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GUY HAMMERSLEY 


/ 



Guy hammersley 


OR 

CLEARING HIS NAME 


BY 

MATTHEW WHITE, JR. 

author'of 

** MY MYSTERIOUS FORTUNE,” ‘^TOUR OF A PRIVATE CAR,” ETC. 



NEW YORK 


STREET & SMITH 

PUBLISHERS 


rz.7 





THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two CopiEa Received 

NOV, 4 1901 

COPVRK3HT ENTRY 

JVsV.xT- / 0/ \ 

CLASS O/XXo. No. 

7-0 

COPY a 


Copyright, 1891, 

By UNITED STATES BOOK CO. 


Copyright, 1901, 

By STREET & SMITH 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


CHAPTER 1. 

THEN AND NOW. 

It was one o’clock, the busiest hour of the day in 
Fox & Burdell’s restaurant On each side of the long 
lunch room and at two smaller counters running 
down the center, business men were perched on 
stools ; ramming, cramming, jamming — no other 
terms will express the process — their midday meal 
home as if they were loading a gun to fire at game 
which might at any moment take to flight 
** Guy Hammersley 1 Is it really you? ” 

A tall young fellow in a cape overcoat, who was 
crossing the room towards a vacant stool of which 
he had just caught sight, halted abruptly as though 
a live electric wire had suddenly sprung across his 
path. He held out his hand to a youth of his own 
age, who had acted as the live wire, and who was 
an employee of the restaurant 

Both his hands were occupied in removing the 
dishes from before a gentleman seated at one of the 


6 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


middle counters, and he started so when he heard 
his name mentioned that he almost dropped them 
with a crash to the floor. 

Arlington he exclaimed in a low voice, and 
managed to set the dishes safely down on the coun- 
ter again and take his friend’s hand. 

Then, speaking to a colored waiter who name up, 
he said : Pumpkin pie for this gentleman,” and 

turned once more to his friend. 

‘‘ Great Scott, Hammersley, what under the sun 
are you doing here ? ” 

“ Talking to you, just at the present minute,” 
laughed the other ; then, suddenly becoming serious, 
he added : “So you haven’t heard ? ” 

“ No, I’ve heard nothing. For Heaven’s sake, 
Guy, old fellow, tell me what has brought you to 
this ?” 

“ The Gotham Bank. You must have read of its 
disgraceful failure, brought about by the old story of 
an unfaithful cashier ? ” 

“Yes, I read a brief account of it in the American 
Register when I was in Paris. Did you bank 
there?” 

“Yes, and mother lost everything. She’s giving 
singing lessons now in the Manhattan School of 
Music. I couldn’t sit down and be supported by a 
woman, so I walked the city from end to end trying 
to find something to do. But we know very few 
here in New York, and mother could not go back to 
Cincinnati, nor did she want me to go away from 
her ; so when Mr. Burdell, a member of Dr. Pendle- 
ton’s congregation, where we attend, offered me a 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


1 

place in the restaurant at seven dollars a week, I 
decided that I ought to accept it” 

“ How long have you been here ? ” asked the 
other, his eyes fixed on the refined, handsome face 
of his friend, and wondering how he brought himself 
to endure his present surrounding, with the constant 
clatter of dishes, the cries of “ Irish stew ! One 
fry 1 Mug of Bass ! ” etc., and the associations into 
which it must bring him. 

“ A month, and it is not as bad you imagine. Fm 
Mot really a waiter, you see ; only I’m supposed to 
look after things at this counter and help when 
necessary. At half-past two, when the cashier eats 
his lunch, and after IVe had mine, I receive the 
checks and make change at the desk ; so you see my 
position is a responsible one, in a certain sense, after 
all.” 

At this moment a waiter near by called out. 
Glass o’ cider,” and, hastily excusing himself to 
his friend, Guy went off to fill the order, blissfully 
unconscious of the fact that he had lost Fox & Burdell 
a customer for that day at least 

During the time spent in his chat with Hammers- 
ley, the stool on which Arlington had had his eye 
was taken, and he had no mind to eat his lunch 
where he could see his friend running about, waiting 
on this horde of hungry business men. With a hasty 
“ Good-bye, Guy, I won’t detain you longer, and I 
honor you for your independence,” he left the 
restaurant, and for some distance sauntered along, 
scarcely conscious of whither he was going. 

It all seemed so inexplicable ; Guy Hammersley, 


8 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


handsome, dashing Guy, the “ head boy ” of Fair- 
lock Hall, whose pockets were always full of cash 
ever ready to be spent most generously for his 
friends, and for whom the master had always predicted 
a brilliant future — to see this same fellow now, after 
only six months, with a napkin under his arm in a 
down-town restaurant ! 

Arlington emphasized the down-town in his reflec- 
tions. If he had encountered Guy at Delmonico’s or 
the Brunswick, he might have been less shocked, for 
he had often read of impoverished counts and dukes 
who had donned the waiter's jacket at these caf^s. 

“ But I do respect him for it,” the noble fellow mur- 
mured to himself, ** and I'm going to show him 
some attention to prove it. I wish I'd left him my 
address and asked him to call. But never mind. I'll 
step in again next time I'm down-town.” 

Meanwhile Guy was bustling from one end to the 
other of the lunch room, wiping off counters with his 
napkin wherever he saw it necessary, supplying 
customers with bills of fare, and filling all orders for 
liquids. 

‘'But while he worked hard and faithfully with 
hands and feet, his mind was far away from this noisy 
babel, intently dwelling on a great, vine-covered 
mansion, set down amid spreading lawns, smoothly 
shaven, and shaded by grand old trees, underneath 
which he had lain many a day, eating nuts and 
chatting with the friend who had just left him. 

And a great portion of this talk was devoted to the 
future that lay before each of them, as bright for one, 
it seemed then, as for the other. They were both to 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 


9 

enter college in the fall, Guy to wear the crimson of 
Harvard, and Bert Arlington the blue of Yale. And 
what a glorious time they were going to have of it, 
and how each meant to distinguish himself, not only 
in certain branches of study, but in the world of 
boating and football I 

They were both Western fellows, Guy coming 
from Cincinnati and Bert from Chicago. Fairlock 
Hall, where they had met, was in Connecticut, and 
here Guy had spent four very happy years, the only 
drawback to his complete contentment being the 
separation from his mother. But he went home for 
the Christmas holidays, and at Easter she always came 
on and took rooms at the Windsor in New York, 
when Guy went down and stayed with her during his 
vacation. 

His father Guy had never seen, he having died be- 
fore the son’s birth. He had left his family a very 
comfortable fortune, all of which Mrs. Hammersley, 
by the advice of a friend, had invested in stock of 
the new Gotham Bank, of New York. 

As the family was so small, and a great deal of her 
time was spent in traveling, she did not keep house, 
but lived in a handsome suite of apartments at one 
of the Queen City's hotels, where Guy, when he was 
home, was enabled to entertain his friends most 
sumptuously. But on her son's installation at 
Harvard, Mrs. Hammersley proposed removing to 
Boston, so that they could be together, and mean- 
while they were to pass the summer at Saratoga. 

She had attended the commencement exercises at 
Fairlock, and Guy had accompanied her back to 


10 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


New York, when the crash came. It was so sudden 
and so awful, falling on them when they were so far 
from their old-time friends. 

But after the first shock had passed, Mrs. Hammers- 
ley decided that it was better so. She could never 
bring herself to be dependent upon others, even her 
closest friends, and it would be far easier for her to 
make her own way among strangers. 

She and Guy removed at once to a quiet boarding- 
house, and with the little that was left them from the 
wreck of their fortune lived through the hot summer 
days, each looking for something to do. 

Most of the few friends that Mrs. Hammersley had 
in New York were out of town, so that the quest 
both in her own case and Guy's was a doubly 
difficult one, and it was chance at last that finally 
crowned it with success for each of them. 

One afternon late in August she met Dr. Pendleton 
on the Elevated Road. She had had a letter of intro- 
duction to him from friends in the West, and attended 
his church whenever she was in New York. He 
learned her story, and, knowing of the fine voice she 
possessed, arranged to have her sing the following 
Sunday in his choir, and by this means succeeded in 
securing her a position on the staff of teachers at the 
Manhattan School of Music, of which a friend of his 
was director. 

The sight of the chum of the old days, albeit these 
were only six months before, brought all these things 
back to Guy's mind with the vivid force of contrast, 
and most of his work that afternoon was done 
mechanically. He did not tell his mother about the 


GVY HAMMRRSI.EY 


n 


meeting with Arlington. He feared it would only 
pain her to think that it might have pained kim. 

The next day he had just got his department in 
order for the business rush when Mr. Fox came up 
to him and said : “ Hammersley, I want you to 
out on an errand for me.” 

This was something new, but Guy quietly took 
his hat and coat and awaited further orders. 


12 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


CHAPTER n. 

SUMMONED HOME. 

‘^Hammersley,” said Hr. Eox, wken Guy pre- 
sented himself in his private office for orders, “I 
want you to take this package for me around to the 
office of the Fireside Favorite, in Hurray street. It is a 
view of our establishment to be used in the magazine 
as an advertisement, and all you need do is to leave 
it for the manager of the advertising department. You 
will see his room as soon as you enter. There is no 
answer, and hurry back as quickly as you can. It is but 
a step from here.’’ 

Glad of the opportunity for even this brief outing 
— ^for of course it was not necessary for him to go out 
to lunch — Guy took the little package and hastened 
off. He was by this time quite at home in the down- 
town localities and had no difficulty in finding the 
number in Hurray street to which Hr. Fox had di- 
rected him. A sign in the doorway apprised him of 
the fact that the offices of the Fireside Favorite were 
situated on the top floor; and when he arrived here, 
he fouiid himself in a low, broad room, with paper- 
bound books piled up in every direction, two offices 
partitioned off on one side, and not a single i>erson 
visible. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


n 

Guy cleared his throat once or twice, but nobody 
appeared. It was noontime, and the girls who wrote 
wrappers and did up books for mailing were evident- 
ly in some back room eating their lunch. To his 
left was a small gate, giving access behind the coun- 
ter, and which now stood half open. Just behind it 
were two private offices, on the door of one of which 
appeared the words— 

ADVERTISING MANAGER. 

Inside Guy could see a roll top desk, the lid down, 
and gathering from this that the man to whom he had 
been sent was not in the building, he decided that 
rather than lose any more time he had better step 
inside, leave the package on the desk, and return to 
the restaurant. 

Acting on this idea, within three minutes he had 
executed his commission and was on his way back 
to Fox & Burdell’s. 

“ Funny way of letting an office take care of itself,’' 
he soliloquized, as he walked along. “ Lucky my 
business didn’t require an answer. ” 

He was just passing the foot of the stairway lead- 
ing to the Park Place station of the Elevated Road, 
when he heard his name called by some one half way 
down. 

“ Mr. Hammersley ! Mr. Guy I ” 

It was a woman’s voice, and looking up he saw 
Eliza, the waitress at their boarding house home, hur- 
rying down to head him off. Her manner was ex- 
cited, and Guy’s heart almost stopped its throbbing 


54 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


tor an instant as his thoughts flew at once to his 
mother. 

“What is it?” he cried, running part way up the 
stairway to meet the girl “Mother sent you 



“Lori, Mr. Guy,” was the response, “she ain't 
able to speak, and Miss Stanwix thought I'd better 
come down and get you. ” 

“For Heaven's sake tell me what has happened I ” 
demanded Guy, his vivid fancy picturing a hundred 
dreadful possibilities. 

“You'll come right back with me, won't you?” 
went on the girl, as they reached the sidewalk. 

“Yes, of course,” and Guy led the way to the up- 
town stairway without a thought of Fox & BurdelL 
Some evil had befallen his mother, and there was no 
room in his mind for anything else just then. 

“Now what is it, Eliza?" he repeated, when he 
had dropped two tickets in the box, and they were 
pacing the platform waiting for a train. 

“It was an express wagon, sorr, belongin' to Tim 
O’Shea, who does kape the little office around the 
corner. Yer ma was crossin' the strate, agoin' to get 
on the car, whin Tim's bhiy Tom came drivin' along, 
gapin' at a big theayter poster, the galoot, and his 
horse knocked your ma down, and her beautiful plush 
cloak do be that covered with dust an' dirt as brings 
tears to your eyes to look at it” 

“ But mother herself," interrupted Guy, impatient- 
ly. * ‘ Never mind the cloak. Tell me, was she much 
hurt ? " 

“Well, as I was tellin' ye, sorr, she was spachless 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


*5 

but there wasn’t no blood. A tall gentleman, with 
gold-rimmed eyeglasses, picked her up and carried 
her from the comer clear to the house and upstairs. 
Oh, but he must be a strong man to do that same, 
and then I came right away down for you. Miss 
Stanwix was afeard, sorr, a telegram would scare ye 
too much." 

“As if you hadn’t scared me about as much as 
possible,” reflected Guy, as they boarded the train. 

He tried his best during the trip up town to find 
out where his mother was injured, but without avail 
Excitable Eliza would deal in nothing but generali- 
ties and exclamations, so that when they arrived at 
the house in Forty-Fifth Street poor Guy was wrought 
up to a fearful state of agitation. 

His mother occupied a large room on the third floor 
back, while he had the small one adjoining, a fold- 
ing bed being in each. Hurrying up the stairs, two 
steps at a time, he pushed open the door of his 
mother’s apartment and was immediately confronted 
by the apparition of a tall man, wearing gold-rimmed 
eyeglasses, a much waxed mustache, and who held 
a finger laid across his lips, from which a soft “ssh " 
issued. 

“ I am her son. Let me see my mother,’’ implored 
Guy, in a low tone. 

“Oh yes, ’’said the tall gentleman with a pompous 
air which quite confirmed the impression Guy had al- 
ready received of him, “but quietly, very quietly. 
She has had a very severe shock, and the least com- 
motion may throw her back. The doctor is now 
making his examination." 


i6 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


While speaking the stranger had made his way out 
of the larger apartment, drawing the door to behind 
him, thus forcing Guy back into his own little 
room. 

‘ ‘ But I ought to see her. I am her son, the only 
relative she has here,” and the boy made a motion 
as if to dodge past the other. 

But the latter laid a much beringed hand on his 
shoulder, and putting off a good deal o his pom- 
posity, said conciliatingly ; know just how you 
must feel, my boy, to be held back in this way by one 
who is a perfect stranger to you. But the doctor 
charged me to admit no one till he summoned me. 
Believe me it is for your mother's good.” 

Considerably appeased by the good sense of these 
remarks, Guy stepped back into the mite of an apart- 
ment which was all he could call his, and sank down 
on a chair, his eyes riveted on his companion with 
a gaze that said almost as plainly as words : ‘‘Who 
are you ? ” 

He of the eyeglasses evidently so interpreted it, 
for bending down his head he began in a solemn un- 
dertone : “I was so fortunate as to be directly be- 
hind your mother when the accident happened. I 
tried to warn her by shouting, but was just too late. 
Then I sprang forward and dragged her out from 
under the horse's feet. ” 

“Then you can tell me, sir, how badly she is hurt,” 
Guy burst forth, rising from his seat 

“Oh, I trust not seriously. She was very much 
dazed, of course, and could not speak. I carried her 
home here ” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY 


17 


“But — but if she could not speak, how did you 
know where my mother lived ? ” Guy lifted his head 
hastily to inquire. 

‘‘ That will involve a little explanation,” was the 
answer as the other took a seat Then he continued : 
“You must know that I live just across the street, 
and hence, as I am at home a good deal of the time 
through the day during the summer months, could 
not fail to notice your mother and yourself as you 
passed in and out Thus I had no difficulty in know- 
ing where the lady I had rescued belonged.” 

The use of the word “rescue ” impressed Guy with 
the conviction that he had been lacking in the dis- 
play of a proper sense of recognition for the services 
the stranger had rendered. Therefore he now stam- 
mered : “I am sure I am deeply grateful to you, 
Mr.— Mr. ” 

“Colonel Starr. I forgot to tell you that on arriv- 
ing here and ascertaining from Miss Stanwix, whom 
I know, that your mother had no regular physician, 
I took the liberty of stepping down the block and 
calling in mine. Dr. Chusdie, a man of superior skill 
and far-reaching repute. But there, I hear him call- 
ing. We can go in now.” 

His heart beating at double quick, Guy followed 
Colonel Starr out into the hall and into the darkened 
room where his mother lay on the lounge. Miss Stan- 
wix bending over her with a bottle of smelling salts, 
while a short, chubby little man, smoothly shaven, 
was just putting on his overcoat. 

Guy darted forward and knelt by his mother's 
side. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


I8 

She looked just as usual, perhaps a trifle pale, and 
as Guy took her hand she opened her eyes and 
smiled — the faintest flicker of a smile. 

“ I am glad you are here, Guy,” she said, ** so you 
can see for yourself that it is nothing so serious as it 
might have been. I was afraid they would frighten 
you.” 

“And you are not in pain ?” asked Guy, softly. 

“ No, my boy ; nothing is broken. It was only 
the shock. I shall be all right presently. Good-bye, 
doctor. You have my name I believe — Mrs. Ham- 
mersley. ” 

Taking this for a dismissal, the physician withdrew, 
but Colonel Starr still remained. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


19 


CHAPTER III. 

AN ASTOUNDING CHARGE. 

As soon as the doctor had departed, Colonel Starr, 
who had been conferring aside with Miss Stanwix, 
came forward. 

'‘I trust, madam,” he began, addressing himself 
to Mrs. Hammersley, “that you will pardon my in- 
trusion, but I can only excuse it by saying that I 
could not go on my way until I had learned that you 
had suffered no serious consequences from your 
dreadful experience. I wish you a very good morn- 
ing,” and he bowed himself out 

Miss Stanwix withdrew immediately after, and 
mother and son were left together. Then Mrs. Ham- 
mersley broke down, simply from a revulsion of 
feeling. 

Looking up in her son’s face through her tears she 
murmured: “When I felt myself going and saw 
that horse over me, not one thought did I give to 
myself, but all to you, Guy ! ‘ What will become of 
him if anything happens to me?’ was my inward 
cry, and then to find that I have escaped ; that I can 
still work for you. Ah, Heaven is merciful ; and 
I am afraid none of us sufficiently appreciate our 


20 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


blessings till we see that they are in danger of being 
taken from us.” 

Now although Guy loved his mother with all his 
heart and soul, it always pained him deeply to hear 
her speak in this way of laboring for him. He knew 
that she did it out of pure affection, as the work she 
had undertaken was indeed a labor of love, wrought 
in the consciousness that he would benefit by it 
But at the same time, as any high-spirited boy can 
easily conceive for himself, Guy wished with all his 
heart that it were otherwise. 

So now he tried to divert her thoughts from himself 
by inquiring more particularly into the details of the 
accident, and thus he came naturally to the query 
that had all along been uppermost in his mind. 

“Who is this Colonel Starr, mother?” 

“Ah, you noticed it, too, did you, Guy ? ” she broke 
in quickly. “There is something odd about him. 
But I dislike to speak about it even to you. I cannot 
but realize that he saved my life and I try to feel the 
proper sense of gratitude.” 

At this point there was a knock at the door. It 
was Eliza, evidently as much excited as she had been 
when bound on her errand to the restaurant 

“Oh, Mr. Guy,” she exclaimed, ‘‘ there’s a gentle- 
man down in the parlor all red in the face and says 
he must see you right away.” 

This summons brought back to the boy like a flash 
the recollection that he had come off without report- 
ing to Mr. Fox. 

‘ ‘ I don’t wonder they’re cut up about it,” he said 
to himself as, with his overcoat still on, he hurried 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


21 


downstairs. ** But' they 11 understand it all as soon 
as I tell them about mother. ** 

He found no less a person than Mr. Fox himself 
in the parlor, not sitting down, but pacing back and 
forth on the rug that lay in the doorway. As soon 
as he caught sight of Guy, he faced him almost 
fiercely. 

‘‘Ah, sir,” he exclaimed, “ you are going to brazen 
it out, are you ? I did not expect to find you here, 
but was determined to come and investigate for my- 
self.” 

Guy looked bewildered. What did the man mean 
by the word ‘ ‘ brazen ” ? Surely a mere absence from 
the restaurant of little more than an hour ought not to 
call for such a term, and to cause a member of the 
firm to come himself clear up town to see about it I 
It was inexplicable. 

‘ ‘ I am very sorry ,” Guy began. “ I was so shocked 
that I never once thought of going back to the res- 
taurant to Mr. Fox waved his hand for silence 

and broke out : 

“ Shocked ! ” he exclaimed in a voice which Guy 
knew only too well must be distinctly audible to the 
servant who was setting the lunch table in the dining- 
room. “ Why, boy, you must be out of your head 
to think you can blind me by such pretense of inno- 
cency. You are not a child and must be fully sen- 
sible of the enormity of the crime you have com- 
mitted.” 

“Crime!” 

Guy looked completely mystified. Was it then a 
crime to leave one’s employer’s office and go home 


22 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


without first asking permission ? A mistake, and a 
serious one, it might be, but, as has been said, Guy 
felt that he had the best of all excuses. But as yet, 
he had had no opportunity to give it 

Mr. Fox was wrought up to a terrible state of wrath. 
Guy had never seen him angry before, and could not 
but feel that his must be one of those natures that 
rarely allow their passion to rise, and for that 
reason, give freer rein to it when it does obtain the 
mastery. 

‘ ‘ Crime ? ” he repeated now after Guy. “ Ifsteah 
ing thirteen dollars isn’t a crime I shall have to 
go to school and study the English language over 
again.” 

“ Stealing thirteen dollars I ” Again Guy could only 
echo the other’s words, but this time through lips that 
grew white and trembled slightly. 

“Come now, Hammersley,” wentonMrFox, seat- 
ing himself on the piano stool, “what is the use of 
putting on such an air of surprise ? I’ve done already 
more for you than I would for any other boy in my 
employ, on account of Dr. Pendleton. And if you 
will own up and restore the thirteen dollars, I will 
arrange with Mr. Inwood not to say a word about 
the affair outside, although of course I could no longer 
retain you in my place. But I can allow it to be sup- 
posed that you left of your own accord. All I ask 
now, you see, is restitution and confession.” 

Guy was still so dazed that he could scarcely artic- 
ulate. 

“ I don’t in the least understand what you mean, Mr. 
Vox,” he replied, slowly, and looking his employe! 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


n 


straight in the eye. ** I haven’t had charge of the 
desk since three o’clock yesterday afternoon, and if 
the money was not missed till this morning ” 

Mr. Fox bounced off the piano stool with a return 
of his anger. 

“This is too much I ” he exclaimed. “ I took the 
trouble to leave my business and come all the way 
up here to try and make things as easy as possible 
for you, and you still persist in keeping your air of 
injured innocence. But you must come along with 
me. We’ll see whether you will not break when you 
find yourself confronted with Mr. Inwood and the 
policeman he’ll have on hand.” 

Guy began to realize now that some terrible mistake 
must have been made. 

“ Won’t you explain more clearly, Mr. Fox?” he 
said. “ Who is Mr.- Inwood and when did this theft 
take place ? ” 

This question was almost too much for the restau- 
rant proprietor. Convinced as he was that Guy was 
guilty of the crime charged against him, it seemed 
the height of impudence for the boy to inquire about 
particulars on which he was presumably better in- 
formed than anybody else. But by a great effort Mr. 
Fox stifled his wrath, and adjusting his voice to a dry, 
harsh, measured tone, replied : 

“Simply to recall the facts to your memory, I will 
say that at noon I cent you round to the office of the 
Fireside Favorite with a package. You left the pack- 
age, for Mr. In wood, the advertising manager, found 
it on his desk, but you took away a roll of bills, amount- 
ing to thirteen dollars, which had just been paid him. 


24 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


and whicn he had left in his desk through oversight 
on going out to lunch with a friend. When he came 
back the roll was missing. He questioned his em- 
ployees, and ascertained from them that no one had 
admitted anybody during his absence. But the cut 
from our establishment was there, and naturally Mr. 
Inwood at once came around to me to find out who 
had brought it ” 

Guy saw it all now, comprehended how his eager- 
ness to execute his errand with dispatch had resulted 
in coiling about him a web of circumstantial evidence 
from which he would find it difficult to escape. 

“This is horrible, Mr. Fox,'" he said, now in his 
turn pacing up and down the floor in nervous helpless- 
ness. “ I never took that money, had no earthly idea 
it was there, as how should I have ? Finding nobody 
came, and seeing the room open where the package 
belonged, I simply walked in, left it and came away. 
The reason I did not return at once to the restaurant 
was because I met a messenger from home who in- 
formed me that mother had been injured in an acci- 
dent Naturally I was very much alarmed and came 
up here at once. As for the robbery, the evidence 
against me, you must see, is purely circumstantial. 
Why cannot some one of Mr. Inwood's clerks have 
taken the money as well as I ? " 

“And what would that be but convicting them on 
circumstantial evidence too? " Mr. Fox put in quickly. 
“ Besides, Mr. Inwoodhas perfect confidence in them 
all. They have had numberless opportunities to steal 
much greater amounts, and nothing was ever missed 
before. Of course I was greatly shocked and at first 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 3 j 

would not believe it, but your protracted absence 
soon lent color to Mr. In wood’s suspicions, and then 
I determined to come up here and give you the chance 
I have already offered you. That you have refused, 
and justice must take its course. 


GUY HAMME/^SLIrr. 




CHAPTER IV. 

CALLED TO ACCOUNT. 

For an instant or two, while Mr. Fox was speak- 
ing, Guy tried to imagine that he was not himself 
living through this bitter experience, but was reading 
of it in a book. How could he bear it ? He, a Ham- 
mersley, a name that, as far back as records went 
had never been sullied by the least taint of disgrace ! 

And his mother 1 How could he tell her of this 
dreadful charge ? 

“Well, sir, are you ready to accompany me dowi\ 
to Mr. In wood’s ? Of course, if you can prove to his 
satisfaction that you did not take the money, well 
and good.” 

Mr. Fox’s voice broke in on Guy’s meditations, as 
that gentleman rose and buttoned his coat 

“Yes, sir, in one minute ; ” and Guy stepped back 
to the dining-room to ask Eliza to tell his mother that 
he had gone down-town again. He did not dare 
trust himself to see her. Then he went out with Mr. 
Fox. 

The fresh air seemed to inspire him with hope, in 
some way. 

“It can’t be possible,” he told himself, “that in 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


27 

these days of law and justice an innocent person can 
be sent to jail. Mr. In wood must see that I didn't 
take the money. 

They went directly to the office of the Fireside 
FavoritCy Mr. Fox taking a paper out of his pocket and 
not speaking one word during the journey. 

And with what different sensations Guy ascended 
those three flights of dirty stairs from the feelings that 
had dominated him in the same locality but two short 
hours ago ! 

Mr. Fox threw open the door labeled, “ Office of 
the Fireside Fccvoriiey and poor Guy felt the hot blood 
rush in surges to his cheeks as he found the room, 
deserted when he was there on that ill-fated errand, 
now filled with girls, who one and all ceased their 
work as he entered, and stared at him with cruel, re- 
lentless steadiness. 

But the stare was not the only thing he had to face. 
A regular buzz of “ Here he is,” went round, and he 
even heard a skurrying of skirts as girls not so favor- 
ably placed for seeing hurried forward to get a sight 
of the messenger from Fox& Burdell's who had stolen 
thirteen dollars. 

One remark he heard distinctly : 

“Oh, Hattie, isn't he handsome!” one pale-faced 
worker on wrapping whispered to her seat mate. 

Mr. Fox glanced neither to the right nor the left, 
but marched straight ahead to Mr. Inwood's private 
office. He took pains, too, that Guy should walk 
ahead of him. 

Mr. Inwood saw them the instant they entered the 
outer room and twirled round in his revolving chair, 


38 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


threw his head back and folded his arms, and thus 
awaited their arrival with the air of a supreme court 
judge. He was a very stout man, with an immense 
double chin, but, contrary to the rule that is supposed 
to hold good with most fat people, he did not look in 
the least jolly, or as if he ever could be so. 

Before Guy and his conductor reached his apartment, 
which was cut off from the main store by a glass 
partition, a little man, very thin, and with an immense 
amount of jewelry about his person, stepped out of 
the adjoining room, ranged himself alongside of Mr. 
Inwood and put a pair of eyeglasses astride of his 
Dose. 

“That’s Mr. Tretbar, I suppose, the head of the 
establishment,” Guy reflected, the hopes that had 
served in a measure to brighten his trip down>town 
deserting him as he noted the sinister looks of the two 
men in whose hands his fate rested. 

“Ah, good afternoon, Mr. Fox,” exclaimed the little 
man, coming forward to shake hands very effusively. 
“ I’m very glad to see you, er — I mean sorry that it 
should be brought about by such an inauspicious 
occasion. Take a seat, take a seat So this is the 
young man. Um ! ’^ 

Mr. Tretbar drew out the last exclamation to a 
lengthy guttural murmur, as if Guy had possessed 
the features and general appearance of a hardened 
criminal. 

He did not request him to take a seat, but as soon 
as he had entered walked over to the door, closed it, 
and then stood with his back against it, as though to 
nip in the bud any attempt at escape. 


GUY ffAMMEBSLEY, 


29 

** Yes, this is the young man,” responded Mr. Fox, 
sinking into the seat and wiping out the inside band 
of his hat with his handkerchief; “and I regret to 
report that he utterly refuses to acknowledge the crime 
and restore the stolen property.” 

Guy could not stand by silent and listen to this. 
He took one step forward, and with his well-shaped 
head thrown back so that he looked his accusers full 
in the face, he said : 

“Gentlemen, if I had taken that money, I dare 
say I should have been only too willing to have ac- 
cepted the offer Mr. Fox made me. But I cannot 
perjure niyself by confessing to a crime of which I 
am not guilty. Besides, I could not afford to ex- 
pend thirteen dollars for such a purpose, even could 
I stoop to do such a thing. On the other hand, if I 
had taken the money, would I have been so short- 
sighted as to have stayed where hands could easily 
be laid upon me ? ” 

“You did not return to the restaurant,” Mr. Fox 
here interposed ; “and when I saw you at the house 
you had your overcoat on, so I imagine I got there 
just in time.” 

“I explained to you, Mr. Fox,” Guy retorted, his 
face flushing at the unjust imputation, “ why it was 1 
did not at once report to you, and the reason I hap- 
pened to have my overcoat on was because, hoping 
to get back to the restaurant very soon, I had not 
taken it off.” 

All this time Mr. Inwood had not spoken a word. 
Now, when there was a pause for an instant, he 
wheeled around in his chair so as to face Guy. 


30 


Gl^y HAMMERSLEY, 


** You have had your say, sir,” he began, ** now 
permit me to have mine. You have proved, to your 
own satisfaction, that you did not take the money. 
Now, then, will you be good enough to prove to mine 
who did ? ” 

“Some one who knows your habits much better 
than I do, sir,” replied Guy, trying to speak, poor 
fellow, as respectfully as he could. 

“Ah, thafs manly, that’s courageous, is it not 
here interrupted Mr. Tretbar. “To lay the blame 
on one of those poor girls outside who labor here 
from morning till night to support mothers and little 
sisters at home I Shame on you, young man, to 
seek to shelter your own crime behind a woman's 
skirls.” 

As Mr. Tretbar uttered the last sentence, he gestio 
ulated freely and ended by laying the flat of his 
hand against his breast, while he shook his head 
mournfully from side to side. 

“Come now, young man, doesn't that move you?” 
put in Mr. Inwood, as though the heart that could 
not be touched by his employer's eloquent plea for 
the w’orking girl must be adamant indeed. 

“ I did not take the money,” replied Guy, firmly. 

“Well, Mr. Fox, I do not see how we can com- 
promise matters while the young man remains in 
this frame of mind,” began Mr. In wood. Then 
turning to Guy, he added : “ Will you step into the 
next room for a moment ? ” 

He indicated the door on the right, leading into 
Mr. Tretbar's private office, and at the same time 
stepped to the door of his own apartment and called 
out “ Hattie I ” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


31 

The girl came forward and Mr. In wood then directed 
her to wait in Mr. Tretbar’s room. 

Guy's ears tingled. He understood only too well 
that she had been summoned to watch him. 

He walked over to the window, and leaning his 
burning forehead against the pane, looked down into 
the bustling street below. How different it all ap- 
peared to him now I Everything seemed covered, 
men, horses, trucks, with a sort of haze. 

It is always so. When we are in deep trouble the 
ordinary sights of every day life assume an entirely 
different aspect, and at times we even find ourselves 
taking note of trivial circumstances that, as a rule, 
would quite escape our observation. 

So now Guy noted how a horse, standing in front 
of a crockery store on the opposite side of the street, 
lowered his head and twisted it round in the attempt 
to see after a little yellow dog that had come trotting 
along the sidewalk past him. 

The next minute the recollection of his trouble 
swept back over the boy in a great wave and ‘‘What 
will mother say ? It will almost kill her,” was the 
refrain that kept repeating itself over and over in his 
brain till the moving throng in the thoroughfare below 
seemed to be whirling round like the figures in a 
zoetrope. 

Guy was growing giddy himself and clutched the 
window frame for support 

Just then came the call ; “Hammersley, you may 
leturr^ new/*' 


38 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


CHAPTER V. 

IN THE SHOE STORE. 

When Guy re-entered Mr. Inwood’s room, he found 
Mr. Fox and Mr. Tretbar with their chairs drawn up 
close to that of the advertising manager. Evidently 
their heads had been together in most serious dis- 
cussion. 

Young man,” began Mr. Inwood, ** we have 
come to a decision, and one, I am bound to say, 
which your obstinacy does not in the least merit 
It is this : in consideration of your mother’s feelings 
and those of Mr. Burdell, I will not press the charge. 
Mr. Fox will replace the thirteen dollars and dismiss 
you from his employ. The case will not be brought 
into the courts, and we will do our best to keep it out 
of the newspapers. As I said before, you do not 
deserve this clemency, and if you have a spark of 
gratitude in your heart, it ought to send you down 
upon your knees before Mr. Fox to thank him for his 
consideration. ” 

Gratitude ! The word seemed a mockery to Guy, 
used in this connection. He was to be sent off, un- 
exculpated, branded, with the suspicion of having 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


33 

committed a theft, and was expected to be grateful ! 

He could not speak, he felt a choking sensation in 
his throat, while not the color of shame, but the pal- 
lor of hopelessness overspread his face. He made a 
desperate effort and then forced out the words: “I 
did not take the money. What more can I say ? 

‘‘ Say no more, but go,’" blazed forth Mr. Fox, 
and Guy lost no time in taking advantage of the 
permission. 

Without another look at the three hard faces of his 
judges, he turned and walked rapidly out toward the 
stairway, past the two rows of staring girls, who, he 
could feel without looking, all stopped their work to 
gaze after him. 

But when he reached the sidewalk, ‘‘What is the 
use of hurrying ? ” was the question that confronted 
him. “ No work to do, and I cannot go home before 
the usual time. I must not let mother know about 
this to-day. She has already had too much strain on 
her nerves. ” 

The hands on the big dial in front of a clock store 
pointed to half-past two. It will be remembered that 
Guy had had no lunch, and now that the suspense 
about his fate was over, and he knew the worst, he 
felt as weak as a rag. But the very idea of entering 
a restaurant was repugnant to him. 

When he reached the corner he turned up a street 
that would take him away from Fox & Burdell’s, and 
presently passing a fruit stand, stopped and bought 
an apple. The stand was next to a vacant store, and 
as he stood leaning against the barred shutters, eat- 
ing his decidedly frugal mid-day meal, his gaze 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


34 

chanced to fall on the window of a shoe store op- 
posite, wherein hung a card bearing the words : 

Boy Wanted. 

** If I could only get another position at once,” was 
the thought that flashed into Guy’s mind at the sight, 
“ mother need never know ! ” 

He hastily finished his apple, and then pulling 
himself together so as not to betray any trace of the 
ordeal through which he had just passed, crossed the 
street 

“ Traubmann & Feder ” was the najne over the 
door, and at the moment trade appeared to be dull, 
for a shock-headed German, looking as if he might 
be Mr. Traubmann or Mr. Feder, stood in the door- 
way looking out, twiddling a toothpick between his 
teeth, while another Teutonic visaged gentleman, 
evidently the other partner in the firm, was seated 
on the outermost of a row of chairs, reading the 
advertisements in a morning paper. 

The store was a medium sized one, and Guy judged 
must cater principally to the wants of men employed 
in the butter and cheese houses in the vicinity. 

The instant he entered the establishment both men 
started towards him with a smiling “Good after- 
noon,” evidently under the impression that he was 
an intending purchaser. 

“ I came in response to that card in the window,” 
began Guy, addressing himself to the man with the 
paper. 

“Ach, yes,” and there was a tinge of disappoint 


GUY HAMMERSLEV, 


35 

ment in the exclamation. Veil, have you had any 
experience in shoes?” 

“No,” Guy was forced to admit, “ but you don^t 
expect me to make them, do you ? ” 

“ No, no ; ve vants a poy to wait on gustomers and 
keep things neat around the shop. Ye do now so 
pig a pizness that Mr. Feder and me can’t do it all 
alone mit ourselves, and the books too. I been a 
lookin' through de paper to see if anybody put a 
notice in for shoe stores* but I didn’t see any, so I 
shust hung out that card.” 

“I think I could please you,” said Guy, eagerly. 

**The shoes have the numbers and prices marked 
on the box, don’t they ? ” 

“Yes, yes, that part’s easy. It’s the sellin’ we’re- 
particular about ; the talkin’ smooth an’ polite to de 
ladies what come in here. Now I tink you could do 
dat, by lookin’ at you.” 

The German laughed and Guy blushed. 

“ How much do you pay ? ” he asked. 

“ Dree dollars a week ; hours from seven to seven 
and Saturday nights to nine.” 

Guy almost gasped. The pay was small enough, 
but when he compared the hours with those he had 
been accustomed to at the restaurant it seemed as 
though he would be actually throwing himself away 
at the price. But would it be wise in him to let this 
opportunity of securing a position slip by ? He could 
try it at any rate, and if he didn’t like it, could leave 
at the end of the week. Then, when he tried for an- 
other place, he could say that he had discharged 
himself. 

Thus Guy reasoned rapidly, and then replied : 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


36 

ril try it. Tm not used to such early hours, but 
if you’ll let me begin right now, I’ll do my best” 

“ Very goot Come back mit me to the desk and 
gif me your name and where you live, and some- 
pody’s what can speak for your being honest and all 
that ” 

Guy complied, mentioned Dr. Pendleton for a 
reference, ^and then took off his coat, ready to get to 
work. 

The other man came back and was introduced as 
Mr. Feder. The partners then retired to the little 
boxed-in compartment where the books were kept, 
while Guy was sent forward to make himself familiar 
with the contents of the various shelves. 

“They seem to put a good deal of faith in me,” he 
mused. “I rather think though that Mr. Traub- 
mann, from the way he looked at me, imagined he 
has made a very good bargain. I suppose the boy he 
had in mind was a smaller chap of fourteen or fifteen. 
Wonder how I’m going to get my breakfast by half- 
past six, though ? It would hardly pay me to get it 
at some restaurant down-town. Perhaps I can make 
some arrangement with Miss Stanwix, though.” 

He resolutely tried to banish from his mind all 
thoughts of the Fireside Favorite, and to this end be- 
stirred himself to learn as much as possible about his 
new duties. He took down box after box, examined 
the shoes inside, as well as the statements of size and 
prices on the lid, and then made a mental note of the 
locality in the store in which certain styles were 
kept. 

He had been thus occupied for about twenty min- 
utes, the quiet of the place being broken only by the 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


%7 


thundering past now and then of a train on the Ele- 
vated Road, and the subdued murmur of the voices 
of the partners, as they went over the books together, 
when a lady entered. She was short and dumpy, 
had light hair, considerably frizzed up over her fore- 
head, and wore a bonnet in which the combination 
of colors was enough to drive an artist distracted. 

Guy quickly pushed back into place the box of 
Congress gaiters he had been in the act of removing, 
and walking up to her, said in his politest manner : 
“ Good afternoon, madam. With what can I serve 
you?” 

She started back, gave Guy a look that seemed to 
wither all the spirit within him, and then, pushing 
on past him, exclaimed : “ What impudence is this? 
Cannot one vife come to see her man without being 
asked vat she wants ? ” 

With that she sailed on majestically to the rear of 
the store where Guy soon heard her demanding of 
Mr. Traubmann if the new clerk didn’t know a lady 
from a woman who came to buy shoes. 

However, the husband did not think it worth while 
to reprove his recently acquired employee for not 
recognizing Mrs Traubmann, who presently departed, 
stuffing a roll of money into her card case. She had 
scarcely been gone a quarter of an hour, before the 
sky clouded over and presently the rain began to fall 
in sheets. 

Guy was sent to take in the shoes that hung out in 
front for exhibition purposes, and while he was thus 
engaged a man hurried by him and entered the store. 
Guy followed to wait upon him and then saw that it 
was Mr. Inwood. 


38 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


CHAPTER VL 

ADRIFT AGAIN. 

“Just get me out a pair of rubbers as quick as you 
can. I’ve only got ten minutes to catch my boat, 
and I’ve had so much trouble with my throat lately, I 
don’t dare 

Mr. Inwood had got that far before he looked up 
and saw Guy standing before him. 

“ Great George, is it you ? ” he exclaimed, so loudly 
that the attention of Mr. Traubmann was attracted to 
the spot. 

He came hurrying forward, and then, “ Ach, Mr, 
In wood,” he cried, “how do you do, sir?” 

“Quick, Traubmann,” responded the other, “get 
me a pair of rubbers. You know my size.” 

Guy retired precipitately to the other side of the 
store. 

“What a perversity of fate,” he reflected, “that 
that man of all others should happen in here to-day 1 
And yet, I suppose he lives over in Jersey, and is on 
his way to the ferry, and so passes this shoe store 
every day in going to and from his office. I dare say 
it’s all up with me here now. I might as well go get 
Wy hat and coat at once.” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


39 

For during the process of trying on the rubbers Mr. 
In wood kept up a steady but subdued murmur of talk, 
and when he rose to go Mr. Traubmann called after 
him: ‘*Verra much obliged to you, sir, for letting 
me know.” 

Guy braced himself for the ordeal, which was not 
long delayed. 

“I tinks you will not suit us, Mr. Hammersley.” 

Mr Traubmann came straight up to him after bow- 
ing Mr. Inwood out, and delivered himself of the 
above brief sentence. 

‘‘Very well, sir,” was Guy’s quiet response, and he 
started to go to the rear of the store, where he had 
hung his things. He paused for an instant, however, 
to say earnestly : 

“ Mr. Traubmann, I know very well what is the 
cause of this. I do not ask you to keep me, but before 
I go I want to say that I did not take that money.” 

That was all, and three minutes later Guy was out 
in the storm, without an umbrella, and with a weight 
of misery upon his heart that it seemed to him then 
could never be lifted off. 

“Branded as a thief! ” was the refrain that kept 
repeating itself in his ears. 

Mechanically he hurried across the street to the 
Elevated Road Station and boarded an up-town train. 
It was now about the time he had been in the habit 
of returning from the restaurant. His mother need 
not know about the state of affairs for to-night at least 
Perhaps in the morning he could get something better. 

Dr. Pendleton could help him — unless Mr. Burdell 
should report to him that unfortunate day’s occur- 


40 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


rence. What a nightmare that was 1 Whichever way 
he turned he found himself confronted by something 
or other in connection therewith. 

When he reached home he was drenched through, 
but “ My outward state is only in keeping with my 
inward one,” he reflected, with a sort of dismal sense 
of satisfaction at the fitness of things. 

“Guy,” called his mother, as he stepped past her 
door to enter his own room first. 

“Yes, mother ; I’m wet, and must change my 
clothes at once.” 

He hurried through the process, wondering as he 
paused for an instant to decide which suit to put on, 
how long it would be before he should be saved the 
necessity of making a choice by reason of having only 
one, or at the most two suits left. Then, bracing him- 
self to try and seem as cheerful as ordinarily, he 
entered his mother’s room. 

“My poor, poor boy I ” 

Mrs. Hammersley had clasped her arms about his 
neck, and was sobbing on his shoulder. 

“Why, mother, what is it? ” he asked, leading her 
to the sofa. “ Have you fell any ill effects from your 
accident ? ” 

“Oh, no, no,” she returned, trying to steady her 
voice. “It is you, my boy — to think they should 
accuse you of such dreadful things.” 

Guy felt a sudden sinking of the heart His mother, 
then, knew all. But how had she learned it ? Was 
it possible that Mr. Fox could have sent her word? 

“ But tell me that you cleared yourself, my son, 
and that they begged your pardon for daring to breathe 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


41 


the least suspicion against your integrity. Sit down 
here by me and tell me all about it. All I know is 
what I got out of Eliza by closely questioning her as 
to what she overheard when she was setting the table 
for lunch.” 

Poor Guy ! He thought he had already experienced 
the sharpest poignancy of his misfortune. But here 
was a deeper depth through which to pass : telling 
his mother that he had not been exonerated, had been 
dismissed from his position in disgrace, and already 
deprived of another by reason of the stigma attaching 
to his name. 

It was a fearful ordeal, but when it was over Guy 
was granted that comfort which otherwise he could 
not have obtained. For his mother, her tears dried 
by her indignation, became his champion. 

This decides me, Guy,” she said. “We will leave 
New York at the first opportunity. My boy shall not 
be exposed to such experiences.” 

“ But your position at the music school ! ” exclaimed 
Guy. 

“ What if I can secure something better ? ” returned 
Mrs. Hammersley. “Oh, it does seem as if some- 
times our misfortunes were blessings in disguise I ” 

Guy looked at his mother in utter astonishment. 
What did she mean ? Surely she must be wandering 
in her mind, he thought. 

‘ ‘ Yes, ” she went on, “ if it hadn't been for my being 
run over. Colonel Starr ” — Guy started at the mention 
of this name — “ wouldn’t have come here and Miss 
Stanwix been able to tell me what she did.” 

“Mother, what do you mean?” exclaimed Guy, 


42 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


startled at he knew not exactly what, and all his prej*» 
udices against Colonel Starr reasserting themselves 
in force. ‘‘What did Miss Stanwix tell you ? ” 

“Something that the colonel told her on the way 
down stairs this afternoon. You know they are old 
friends and neighbors, and in mentioning to her that 
he had heard me sing that morning in church, he 
added that he was surprised I did not seek a larger 
public, and intimated, so Miss Stanwix tells me, that 
as soon as I recovered from the shock of the accident 
he would formally propose an engagement to me for 
a series of concerts.” 

“ Oh, mother,” cried Guy, “ surely you would not 
think of accepting 1 Lower yourself to go about the 
country like a combination show. It is preposterous. ” 

“Guy, you are absurdly prejudiced," responded 
Mrs. Hammersley with considerable asperity. ‘ ‘ Does 
Patti lower herself ? Was Jenny Lind preposterous ? 
But wait till you hear more. It has nothing to do 
with a theatrical ventura Colonel Starr — who won 
his title by most honorable service in the war — is a 
member of a prominent firm of piano manufacturers, 
and is therefore intensely interested in musical mat- 
ters. He is very anxious to form a company to travel 
with Miss Ruth Farleigh, an English girl who has just 
come over here, and who is a marvelous performer 
on the violin. As I told you, he more than hinted he 
was going to ask me to join the company, and I think 
should he do so I would accept And I dare say that 
he could find a position for you with the organization. 
Indeed, he must do so, or I will not consent ” 

It was months since Guy had seen his mother so 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


43 

animated. It was apparent that she was strongly 
interested in the idea Miss Stanwix’s talk had sug- 
gested to her. 

“ Of course it would be a sacrifice, in one sense,” 
she went on, “for me to give up a permanent abid- 
ing place, but who knows but what I may earn enough 
in a few seasons to purchase a little home for ourselves 
in some charming near-by place like Short Hills or 
Pelham?” 

At this point the bell summoned them to dinner. 
Guy would gladly have stayed away. He did not 
know how many Eliza might have told of what she 
had overheard. But then, he reflected, he was inno- 
cent, and should not be ashamed of anything, so, 
though it cost him an effort, he tried to summon all 
his usual buoyancy of spirits when he descended to 
the dining-room with his mother. 

They sat at a small side table, and thus did not 
come into direct communication with the other board- 
ers, for which, on the present occasion, Guy was 
devoutly grateful. But all of the ladies came up to 
Mrs. Hammersley to inquire how she felt after her 
experience of the morning, and of course they all 
spoke to him. 

The accident, however, furnished the main topic 
of conversation, and at last the meal, for which Guy 
had but little appetite, was over and they went up- 
stairs. 

“Then you do not want me to look for another 
position, mother?” began Guy, when they were once 
more seated in his room. 

“ Not for a day or two at any rate,” was the answer. 


44 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


“The idea of their thinking you were a thief 1 I 
shouldn’t be a bit surprised if that man Inwood hid 
the money away himself, and tried to double it in 
this disgraceful way.” 

Guy could not believe a business man could bring 
himself to do such a despicable thing, and while they 
were discussing the matter Eliza knocked and an- 
nounced that Colonel Starr was in the parlor and 
would like to know if Mrs. Hammersly could give 
him a brief interview. 

“Certainly, I will go down at once. Guy, you 
come with me. Who knows but a way will now be 
opened for both of us ? ” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY^ 


4S 


CHAPTER VII. 

COLONEL STARR, 

My dear madam, inexpressibly charmed, I am 
sure, to behold you so completely recovered from your 
shock of this morning/" 

Thus Colonel Starr, when Mrs. Hammersley and 
her son entered the parlor. All Guy’s dislike for, and 
distrust of, the man reasserted itself as he listened to 
the smooth, measured tones of the voice which had 
a sort of cloying sweetness about it that somehow 
reminded the boy of a serpent gifted with the power 
of fascinating its victims. 

“Ah, and your son,” went on the colonel, extend- 
ing his hand to Guy. “ How greatly he favors you 
in looks, Mrs. Hammersley. I am sure I could not 
pay the young man a greater compliment than to say 
this.” 

“Why, I have never had that said of us before, 
Colonel Starr,” and Guy, who was looking steadily 
at his mother, to see how she received the fulsome 
flattery of her caller, thought he detected a look almost 
of terror pass across her face. It was gone in an in- 
stant, however, and the boy thought it must all have 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


46 

been his imagination. His nerves, poor fellow, had 
been so tried that day ! 

After a few more inquiries regarding what action, 
if any, Mrs. Hammersley intended to take regarding 
a suit for damages against the express company, 
Colonel Starr gave a preparatory cough and pro- 
ceeded at once to business. 

“I trust, Mrs. Hammersley,’' he began, “you will 
not think I am presuming on a short acquaintance, 
if I now broach a subject which is very near my 
heart.” 

‘ ‘ Great Scott ! ” thought Guy. “ Is the man going 
to propose ? ” 

“ May I be permitted to inquire,” the colonel went 
on, “ if you are irrevocably bound to the School of 
Music ? ” 

“No, nothing was said about a time limit,” replied 
Mrs. Hammersley. “You know I had my reputation 
to make and I might not suit the patrons, so it was 
left so that either party could dissolve the contract, 
if I may call it so, at pleasure.” 

“Quite right, quite right,” broke out the colonel, 
looking immensely pleased. “Then I will not be 
considered as ‘ out of order ’ if I ask your considera- 
tion of another engagement I should like to tender 
you. ” 

Pe then went on to state that he had the refusal 
of the right to pilot the tour of the renowned English 
girl violinist. Miss Ruth Farleigh. He must close 
with her on the following day or fail to secure her, 
and all now depended on getting together a first class 
company at the shortest possible notice. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


47 

*‘A11 that now remains, Mrs. Hammersley,” the 
colonel concluded, “ is for you to give your consent 
to becoming the leading soprano of the Starr Concert 
Company. I have heard you sing, and I assure you 
that a veritable triumph awaits you on the concert 
stage. Indeed, so high a value do I set on your 
services that I will make you the same offer that I 
did to Miss Farleigh, One eighth of the gross receipts.” 

“But — but, you are very good, Colonel Starr,” re- 
joined Mrs. Hammersley, “but I think, seeing that I 
have no fortune to fall back on, it would be inadvisa- 
ble for me to throw up a salaried position.” 

Guy, sitting just behind his mother, felt like softly 
applauding. She was evidently not going to be 
deceived by the smooth spoken colonel after all. 

But the latter was ready with reinforcements. 

“My dear madam,” he exclaimed, “you mistake 
me. I am offering you something much better than 
any salary could be. This is the way of it : the en- 
tire receipts will be counted every night, and three 
fourths set aside for expenses of hall, advertising, 
salaries of other artists and my own profits. Of the 
other fourth, one half goes to Miss Farleigh, the other 
to yourself. As our expenses will necessarily be 
heavy, you will thus be assured of receiving as much, 
and sometimes, a great deal more than myself. Could 
anything be more liberal, madam ? ” and Colonel 
Starr lay back in his chair with a sort of joyous sigh, 
as though ready to be martyred for his self-sacrifice 
in the cause of art. 

“Yes, Colonel Starr,” responded Mrs. Hammersley, 
“ your proposition is indeed a most generous one. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


4 § 

SO far as it goes, and I appreciate most deeply the 
high, I fear me altogether too high value, you set 
upon my services, but what if the receipts are not 
sufficient to ” 

But here the colonel broke in with : Your pardon, 
madam, for interrupting, but you entirely miscon« 
ceive the nature of the enterprise which I am about to 
inaugurate. Miss Farleigh is a great card, one cer- 
tain to draw immense houses. The English papers 
are teeming with favorable notices of her won- 
derful abilities, and everything English takes nowa- 
days, you know. Besides, a woman violinist is still 
something of a novelty, so we have more than one 
string to our bow in respect to this one artist alone,” 
and Colonel Starr laughed softly at the implied 
pun. 

*‘Then — how much — that is, do you think I could 
be sure of making at least fifty dollars a week if I 
should decide to accept ? ” said Mrs. Hammersley. 

“Fifty a week 1 ” cried the colonel, with a rising 
inflection, as if to say that such a sum was not worth 
mentioning. “Why, just look at it for one moment 
in this light. We open with a concert, say in Chick- 
ering Hall, at a dollar a seat. Suppose, merely sup- 
pose, that there are but three hundred people present 
— an absurdly low estimate of course, but I wish to 
convince you fairly. Well, that means three hundred 
dollars gross receipts. I get two hundred and twenty- 
five, Miss Farleigh thirty-seven and a half, yourself 
the same. And this for one night only, remember, 
and at a low basis, ridiculously low, of course, as 
Chickering Hall seats some 1250 persons. Four 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


49 

nights of such business in seven would give you a 
weekly income of one hundred and fifty dollars/' 

Certainly this was very alluring. Even Guy could 
find but one flaw in it : the strangeness of the fact 
that his mother, a singer without any reputation to 
speak of, should get as much as Miss Farleigh, whose 
praises the colonel had sounded so highly. He deter- 
mined to speak about it. 

Colonel Starr,” he ventured to interpose, “ as my 
mother has no one but me to look to in financial 
matters, I trust both you and she will pardon me if I 
put one question.” 

‘‘Certainly, my dear young sir,” returned the 
colonel, with unabated affability. “ Eminently right 
and proper for you to do so. What is it you would 
like to know ? ” 

“Why my mother should get as much as Miss 
Farleigh, who you say is such a great drawing card.” 

Guy expected to see the colonel’s face fall at this 
evidence of penetration beneath the smooth, outer 
surface of his proposition. But nothing of the sort took 
place. 

The colonel gave a short laugh, and half turning 
in his chair, let his hand drop familiarly on Guy's 
knee as he replied : “ Ah, Mrs. Hammersley, there is 
no fear of your ever being duped by the designing 
knaves of whom our city has too large a supply. 
This boy of yours will be an all-sufficient protection. 
And now to explain, my dear Mr. Guy, why I offer 
Miss Farleigh the same terms as I do your mother, 
I have simply to say that Miss Farleigh is extremely 
young, barely eighteen, and of course cannot expect 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


50 

to command the prices of older and more experienced 
performers. In fact, she has never yet appeared in 
public. I am to have the honor of bringing her out/' 

Guy's heart gave a leap. He had his man this time 
sure, he thought 

**But you told us a few moments ago,” he broke 
in, * ‘ that she had made a great sensation in England. ” 

For one instant Guy detected a peculiar glitter in 
Colonel Starr's eye, but his voice was as soft as ever 
as he answered : 

*‘Her appearances on the other side were entirely 
amateur. Admission was only by invitation. And 
now, Mrs. Hammersley, what do you say ? As I told 
you, I cannot hold the offer open beyond to-morrow, 
and I should very much, like to have your answer 
to-night.'' 

At this moment Eliza appeared at the door and 
handed in a note addressed to Mrs. Florence King 
Hammersley. 

Mrs. Hammersley started when she saw the hand- 
writing. 

Will you pardon me if I read this at once?” she 
said, turning to Colonel Starr. think it may be 
important. ” 

“Certainly, madam,” responded the colonel with 
a flourish of the hand that wore the most rings. 

And tearing open the envelope, the lady found her- 
self confronted with these lines : 

Mrs Florence King Hammersley : 

Dear Madam — As you will remember, according 
to the terms of our arrangment, either party could 


GVY hammersle r. 


51 


terminate at will the engagement you have as a mem- 
ber of our staff of instructors. We shall have no 
further need of your services from this date. 

J. Stanley Sinclair, 
Chairman of Committee* 


52 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

MRS. HAMMERSLEY CLOSES WITH THE COLONEL. 

Guy saw the warm blood rush into his mother’s 
cheeks, to be succeeded by a deadly pallor. She 
held the letter, so cruelly worded, out to him, and 
with one swift glance he had taken in the contents. 

“It is all through me,” he told himself. “Mr. 
Sinclair has heard of my dismissal from Fox & Bur- 
dell’s.” 

Meanwhile Mrs. Hammersley is speaking to the 
colonel. But what is this she is saying ? 

“ Colonel Starr, I have decided to accept your offer. 
Consider me at your disposal, that is, on one condi- 
tion.” 

“And what, madam, is that?” 

The colonel’s eyes glistened, and his two hands 
crept near to one another, as if to be all ready, in 
case the condition should not be too hard a one, to 
rub themselves against each other in token of felici- 
tation. 

“ That you give my son a position with the troupe. 
I cannot be separated from him. ” 

The colonel’s hands spread apart, and one sought 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


53 

his knee, while the other was rubbed reflectively 
across his smooth-shaven chin. 

‘‘Ah — um,” he murmured. ‘*What are the ac- 
complishments of your son ? Er — has he inherited 
any of your talent in the musical line ? " 

Again that strange look came over the mother’s 
face, but, as before, it vanished in an instant, and 
she was smiling as she replied to the colonel’s ques- 
tion : “ No, Guy is not musical except in the sense 
that he loves to listen to fine performers ; he does 
not even play the banjo. His only accomplishment, 
so far as I am aware, is in the line of keeping 
accounts. Is your business staff full ? ” 

“Well,” rejoined thecolonel, “ you know the man- 
agement of a concert troupe is not such an onerous 
affair as that of an opera company would be ; but 
if your son would consent to accept a small salary, 
I think I could fix matters. If — for instance — he 
wouldn’t mind taking tickets — I can offer him six 
dollars a week.” 

** Very good; we will close with that, then,” in- 
terposed Mrs. Hammersley, in the tone of one who 
wished that the interview should be ended. 

“Excellent, madam,” exclaimed the colonel, rising 
with cheerful alacrity. “ You have removed a great 
weight from my heart ; that weight the fear that I 
could not secure you. Now if you will only sign 
your name to this brief screed, I can go on my way 
rejoicing. ” 

As he spoke, the colonel took a sheet of foolscap, 
pretty well filled with writing, from his pocket, and 
handed it, with a fountain pen, to Mrs. Hammersley. 


54 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


It would be well-nigh impossible to describe Guy's 
feelings during all this. Utter despair would come 
about as near to it as anything. 

What would be the result of his mother's placing 
herself within the power of this man whom, in spite 
of his fair speaking, Guy could not but distrust? 
And it was all owing to him, Guy, for had not Mrs. 
Hammersley herself told him that his experience that 
day down-town had decided her in the matter ? And 
now this curt note of dismissal from the School of 
Music had left her no choice in the matter. 

And this, too, had doubtless come about through 
him ! To be sure he was not guilty of the theft of 
the thirteen dollars, but that did not affect the result 

So now he felt that his tongue was tied. He had 
already said as much as he dared. Instead of object- 
ing, on account of a mere prejudice against the per- 
sonality of a man, ought he not rather to feel grateful 
that they were able to make such advantageous 
arrangements ? 

Supposing Colonel Starr had not turned up. What 
would have been the prospects for his mother and 
himself now both were deprived of their positions ? 
Surely he ought to look upon this opportunity to join 
the forces of the Starr Concert Company as one of the 
most fortuitous circumstances that had befallen them 
since their struggle with the world had begun. 

And yet, try as he would to see things in this light, 
he shivered inwardly as he saw his mother take a 
music book from the piano, place the sheet of fools- 
cap upon it, and then write her name at the bottom 
in her pretty, graceful hand. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


55 

' * There, madam ! ” exclaimed the colonel, who 
made no effort to conceal his delight at the realiza- 
tion of his hopes, you are now fairly embarked on 
a career that I am certain will redound to your good, 
not only in a pecuniary sense but in fame as well. 
This, in your case, will be almost, if not quite, as 
good as money ; for of course when your twenty 
weeks’ season is over, you will be at liberty to renew 
with me, or others, on your own terms.” 

“And when do you want — that is, if you will be 
kind enough to give me some directions. Colonel Starr, 
as to what you wish me to do,” rejoined Mrs. Ham- 
mersley, by no means showing in either voice or 
manner the enthusiasm that was expected of her. 

“ Oh, to be sure. First I want you to meet Miss 
Farleigh. She is a charming girl, I assure you. If 
you like, I will call for you to-morrow morning, and 
we will go down to her hotel and see her. We can 
then talk over the make up of programmes, the date 
of our first performance, and so on. ” 

“Is Miss Farleigh’s mother with her ?” inquired 
Mrs. Hammersley. 

“ No ; she is an orphan, and has come over with 
her brother, a young man about your son’s age, I 
should judge. He is to travel with us too. They 
will make pleasant companions for one another.” 

“ Talks about me as if I was nine years old,” said 
Guy to himself ; and he felt a deep sense of relief 
when the colonel shook hands and bowed himself 
out, with an appointment to call the next day at ten. 

“ Mother,” said Guy, as soon as the door 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


56 

closed on them in their own rooms, did you read 
that contract before you signed it ? ” 

“ Certainly I did. It was simply a repetition of 
what he told us. Why do you mistrust that man so 
greatly, Guy?” 

“ Because of his whole manner,” the boy burst 
out ‘‘ He is too plausible, too smooth-spoken. I 
may be wrong ; and I feel that when I have brought 
all this upon us ” 

“ Guy, do not speak that way,’' cried his mother. 
** It is not you, it is the harsh, cruel injustice of the 
world. I never wanted you to go away from me, 
and just as soon as I am sure that I can do well 
with the concert company, I shall insist on your 
giving up your position as ticket-taker.” 

“ But I do not want to live upon you,” objected 
Guy. “lam seventeen, and surely ” 

His mother stopped him with a wave of the hand 
and a smile. 

“ You need not be idle, my dear boy. If all goes 
as I trust it will, I shall need you to manage my 
affairs. All singers have their managers, you know, 
and you can be mine. And, by the way, I wish 
you would stop in at Ditson's to-morrow morning 
and get me some music I want. I will make you out 
a list.” 

Guy slept but little that night. His brain was too 
full of dire foreboding and unavailing regret. His 
mother's very cheerfulness was a source of worriment 
to him. 

He was afraid that she would not be sufficiently 
on her guard against any ticks Starr ( it was in this 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


57 

irreverent manner that Guy always thought of the 
colonel ) might try to play at her expense. 

At last he fell asleep from sheer weariness of the 
efforts he had been making to woo slumber. And 
such frightful dreams as he had I 

In one he was a hangman, with the task of execut- 
ing thirteen shop girls, who all, as they came up 
under the fatal noose, pointed a finger at him and 
muttered, You did it, you !” In another he saw 
his mother drowning before his eyes, while a man 
with gold-rimmed eyeglasses fiddled away on the 
bank of the river for dear life, and would not let him 
approach to save her. 

Thus it came to pass that in the morning he did 
not awake with that usual feeling of buoyancy which 
is such a valuable attribute of youth. And yet the 
brilliant autumn sunshine which streamed in at the 
window gradually infused him with hope in spite of 
himself, and *"I cannot improve matters by worry- 
ing about them,” he told himself as he dressed, “and 
I can make mother’s burden heavier by putting on 
glum looks.” 

So he put all the gloom of yesterday away from 
him, and his “good morning” to his mother had the 
cheery, old-time ring to it And he had his reward 
in the reflected brightness he saw in her face. 

Promptly at ten o’clock Colonel Starr presented 
himself, and, finding that Guy had not gone down- 
town, invited him to go along to Miss Farleigh’s 
hotel. 

“You will find her brother there,” he said, “and 
will be able to make his acquaintance.” 


58 


GUY HAMMERSLEY 


CHAPTER IX. 

A SUDDEN MOVE. 

The hotel at which the Farleighs were stopping was 
within walking distance of the Hamrnersleys* board- 
ing-house, and within twenty minutes our friends 
found themselves in a sunny room, being warmly 
welcomed by a tall girl with a deep, rich voice and 
a strangely sweet face. 

‘‘I am so glad to see you, Mrs. Hammersley,” 
she said, as she gave that lady's hand a lingering 
pressure. “ You know all my friends in this country 
are men, and though they are very kind, yet I hun- 
ger at times for a confidential chat with some one 
who will remind me of my sister. You know Ward 
and I have never been away from her before. She 
has taken care of us ever since mamma died.” 

Poor girl I she was only eighteen, and so homesick, 
and the sight of Mrs. Hammersley's motherly face 
went straight to her heart and impelled her to make 
all these confidences in a breath, as it were. 

While she was speaking a young fellow of sixteen 
entered the room, and was at once presented as 
“brother Ward.” 

Guy took to him at once, as how could he help 


GC/y HAMMERSLEY. 


59 


doing when he was the living image of his handsome 
sister, only a trifle shorter and carrying his head a 
little more confidently? 

It transpired that Miss Farleigh wanted some new 
music, too, and before the boys had a chance to ex- 
change more than half a dozen words. Colonel Starr 
suggested that Guy show Ward the way to Ditson’s. 
Nothing loath, he expressed his entire readiness to do 
so, and the two were soon walking down Broadway 
together. 

“Do you know,"" began young Farleigh, as soon 
as they were in the street, “ 1 find it almost impossi- 
ble to realize that I am in America. A month ago I 
had no more idea of coming than of taking a journey 
to Mercury.'" 

* ‘ Then — you have not known Colonel Starr long ? "" 
asked Guy, tentatively, for he was anxious to ascer- 
tain how the Farleighs came to have business rela- 
tions with the impresario. 

“Only two months,"" was the answer. “You 
see, this is the way of it My sister— my elder 
one, Gwendoline — has let our house in London for 
lodgers since father died, and Colonel Starr stopped 
with us when he was over this summer. He heard 
Ruth play and just about went wild over it De- 
clared that she"d make a fortune if she only came to 
America, and finally persuaded us into it I was just 
out of school, and sister had some money saved up 
to start me in business, but the colonel told us that 
in one season the amount would be quadrupled, so 
we spent part of it to cross' and the rest of it is going 
in hotel bills. And I say, what do you think of 


6o GUY HAMMERSLEY, 

Colonel Starr ? How long have you known him ? ” 

“Since yesterday/' answered Guy, fully prepared 
for the whistle of astonishment with which the state- 
ment was received. 

“And — and hasn't your mother known him any 
longer either? " added Ward. 

“No." 

“Then you can’t tell me any more about him than 
i know already," summed up the English lad, and 
he turned on Guy with an odd motion- of the eyes 
and mouth which the latter found not much difficulty 
in interpreting. 

As if by mutual agreement the subject of Colonel 
Starr was now dropped and the boys talked of New 
York and the sights thereof until they reached Dit- 
son's, where each purchased the music of which he 
had a list and then hastened back to the hotel. But 
that brief interchange of words about the colonel had 
served to make the two better friends than a whole 
day of ordinary converse would have done. 

They found the two ladies alone, Mrs. Ham- 
mersley at the piano, playing an accompaniment to 
Ruth's rendering of a beautiful composition of Vieux- 
temps’s on the violin. They stepped in quietly, and 
Guy listened with charmed intentness till the piece 
was finished, when he broke into involuntary ap- 
plause. 

It was the first time during his waking hours that 
he had forgotten the burden that episode at the office 
of the Fireside Favorite had laid upon his heart. 

“We are to give our first concert next Thursday, 
Guy, " said his mother. ‘ ‘ Colonel Starr has gone off to 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 6 1 

make the final arrangements now, and we start Wed» 
nesday evening/’ 

^‘Why, where are we going?” exclaimed Guy. 
‘‘I thought we were to make our first appearance 
here at Chickering Hall.” 

“No, he has been compelled very suddenly to 
change his plans, and we are to go West at once.” 

“What part of the West ? Anywhere near Cincin- 
nati ? ” asked Guy, quickly. 

“ No ; to some town in Pennsylvania I never heard 
of before — Brilling, I think the name of it is. But 
you can see that we haven't much time to spare.” 

It was indeed rather short notice, but the rush of 
preparation accorded well with Guy’s feelings. He 
seemed to himself to have lived in a constant whirl 
since just twenty-four hours previous when he had 
gone on that errand for Mr. Fox. 

Besides, with plenty to occupy his hands, he was 
not so prone to worry his mind with useless repin- 
ings over the nature of the enterprise on which they 
were now embarked. 

Miss Stanwix seemed sincerely sorry to lose her 
boarders, aside from any financial interest she might 
have in their departure. Indeed, she had occupants 
for the vacated rooms already booked. 

Not one word did Mrs. Hammersley say to Guy 
about that curt dismissal from the School of Music. 
He could not help wondering if he would have felt 
any easier in his mind had the worthy colonel not 
turned up. 

“Certainly we should have been worse off in that 
case,” he tried to assure himself, and by the day of 


62 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


departure he had in so far succeeded that he was en- 
abled to get up a feeling of considerable curiosity to 
see the other members of the Starr Concert Company, 
whom he expected to find on the train. 

The Hammersleys and the Farleighs had arranged 
to go down to the ferry in the same carriage, and on 
arriving there found the colonel waiting for them, a 
bouquet of roses in each hand, one of which he 
handed to Mrs. Hammersley, the other to Ruth Far- 
leigh. He had also provided tickets for the entire 
party, with pleasant quarters in the Pullman, and 
soon after the train started led the way to a well- 
spread dinner table in the dining car. 

“But, Colonel Starr,” queried Ruth, as they took 
seats and she noticed that all the chairs were filled, 
“where are the rest? ” 

' ‘ The rest. Miss Farleigh ? The rest of what ? ” and 
the colonel smiled affably as he bent over the shoulder 
of the fair young prima donna, 

“Why, the rest of the company, to be sure. I 
thought we should find them all here. ” 

“Ah, cruel one, to remind me at this auspicious 
moment of the ‘shop,^ of the business cares that are 
whitening my hairs before their time. Ah, such a 
‘ heavenly ’ tenor, as you ladies would say, as I had 
secured, and now he sends me word that he has the 
diphtheria and has been taken to the hospital. And 
my accompanist, a buffo bass of wonderful abilities, 
has been served with a subpoena as a witness in an 
important case and cannot join us till next week some 
time.” 

Guy and Ward exchanged swift, meaning glances, 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


H 

while Mrs. Hammersley exclaimed : “Who, then, can 
play my accompaniments? Have you secured a 
substitute ? ” 

“And who will play mine? ” added Ruth. 

“I should be most happy to give this young man 
a position, if he will accept it,” and the colonel placed 
his hand for an instant, with an air of paternal guar- 
dianship, on Ward’s shoulder. 

I ? ” The boy looked around in unbounded 
astonishment. “Why, I have never played for any 
one but Ruth in my life.” 

“ But you are a quick reader of music,” interposed 
the colonel, suavely. “ I have heard your sister say 
so. With just a little practice I will warrant you will 
do beautifully, and that reminds me. Master Guy, 
wouldn’t you like me to relieve you of that ticket- 
taking business, and earn your salary on the stage 
instead ? ” 

Guy’s amazement far exceeded Ward’s. But the 
colonel did not allow him time to more than draw in 
a long breath preparatory to protesting his inability 
to do anything of the sort 

“ I heard from Miss Stanwix how you had enter- 
tained the household there one evening by reading a 
series of humorous selections. I have a stock of 
some exellent productions in my satchel which I will 
show you after dinner, and I am sure that with your 
voice and presence, you can make yourself a note- 
worthy feature of the evening’s entertainment For 
a good reader is a rara avis, and when he appeals to 
the humorous side of the great American people his 
success is assured. And now let us drop ‘ shop’ and 
take up dinner.” 


64 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


CHAPTER X. 

THE ARRIVAL AT BRILLING. 

Our friends of the Starr Concert Company were not 
due at Prilling until three o’clock in the afternoon of 
the next day. Meantime, as the colonel spent much 
of his time in the smoking car, the quartette had ample 
opportunity to discuss the situation among them- 
selves. 

And the Farleighs were as much astounded as were 
the Hammersleys on realizing that the troupe was 
not a large one, consisting of at least half a dozen 
artists. It had now resolved itself into an organiza- 
tion of only three ; for Ward was merely to play the 
accompaniments. 

“I’ll tell you one thing that strikes me as jolly 
queer,” he said as he and Guy occupied seats together 
while the berths were being made up. “You know 
when the colonel opened his satchel to get out those 
books for you. Well, he threw a lot of things out on 
the seat next to me, and among them was a handbill, 
and I’m positive neither Tellman’s nor Dart’s name 
was on it. Now these must have been printed some 
time ago, and the colonel claims that he did not know 
of the defection of these two men till this afternoon, 
and he had no time to replace them.” 


Gi[/y HAMMERSLEY, 


65 


“And you conclude? " interjected Guy. 

“ That he never intended the company to consist 
of more members that at present constitute it. As far 
as I can make out, we ‘ show," as they call it, only 
at one-night stands, so if the public in one town are 
disgusted, it will be too far away to affect the busi- 
ness at the next." 

“ In plain terms then,” went on Guy, “you believe 
Colonel Starr to be a fraud."" 

‘ Fm afraid he is,” answered Ward, “but I 
wouldn’t for the world have my sister know it You 
see, she has signed with him for the season, and I 
suppose he could make things mighty unpleasant for 
her if she should attempt to break the contract Be- 
sides, we’d be stranded without a thing to fall back 
upon ; not money enough to take us home, and only 
enough to pay our expenses for about a week."’ 

“But if you believe Colonel Starr to be an irre- 
sponsible person,” interposed Guy, “it seems to me 
that you will not be any better off by remaining with 
him.” 

“Oh, but you see it’s just this way,"" responded the 
other. “ Ruth’s contract says that she is to have an 
eighth of the gross receipts. Well, if the thing doesn’t 
draw, he can’t get enough himself to go on with, and 
perhaps the little we should get would be enough 
to buy our passage back home. Of course if my 
sister was on a regular salary things would be dif- 
ferent” 

“Then you are of the opinion that the only one to 
be cheated is the public, are you ? ” asked Guy, half 
laughingly. 


66 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


** It looks most awfully as if that was the case, 
doesn’t it now?” rejoined Ward. “And I say it with- 
out any disrespect to your mother or my sister. But 
the thing that’s actually bothering me the most is the 
idea of having to play on the stage of an opera house, 
for that’s where we open, the colonel says. If I get 
rattled, you see, it will not hurt me so much as it will 
your mother and Ruth. ” 

“But you won’t be obliged to face the audience as 
I shall, ” returned Guy. ‘ ‘ And if they don’t like what 
I am reading, I know I shall feel it, and you can 
imagine what sort of an effect it will have upon me. 
Still, as long as it lets me out of taking tickets I sup- 
pose I shouldn’t mind.” 

The fact of the matter was, Guy felt that he wouldn’t 
have minded anything very much if only he could be 
relieved of that cloud of suspicion that he felt was 
resting over him in the minds of at least twenty per- 
sons, and perhaps many more, back in New York. 
The memory of that fearful experience was ever pres- 
ent with him to dampen his joys, intensify his fears, 
and make him, in short, as different from the high- 
spirited, light-hearted fellow at Fairlock as it was 
possible for the same individual to become. 

Again that night he slept but little, and it was not 
till the train slowed up for Brilling that he forgot, for 
the time, the Old Man of the Sea load he was carrying. 
Even while making himself familiar with the humor- 
ous selections he intended reciting that night, he was 
sensible of a dull burden of contrasting gloom tugging 
away at his heartstrings meanwhile. But now, with 
the bustle of getting baggage together, preparatory 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


67 

to quitting the cars after their long ride, and the nat- 
ural curiosity to see what sort of a place Brilling was, 
he forgot for a time his hete noir. 

The town appeared to be a good-sized one, with a 
preponderance of frame buildings, from the midst of 
which the Brilling Opera House stood out like a giant 
among pigmies. It was close to the station, and the 
travelers passed it on their way to the hotel. 

“See there I What did I tell you?” exclaimed 
Ward, nudging Guy just as they were opposite the 
gaudily painted entrance. ‘ * Look at those billboards. 
Those posters must have been printed five days ago at 
least” 

They were certainly very elaborate, done in three 
colors, with a picture of a blue girl, with yellow hair 
streaming down her back, playing on a green violin. 
Above this marvelous figment of the artist’s imagina- 
tion — for Ruth Farleigh’s hair was almost black, and 
worn in a Psyche knot; she never dressed in any 
light colors except white, and most certainly she did 
not use a painted fiddle— the boldest of bold type set 
forth the fact that Brilling was to enjoy an entertain- 
ment by 

THE STARR CONCERT COMPANY, 

Combining an Unequaled Array of Talent, headed by 
the Peerless and Unrivaled English Girl Violinist, 

RUTH FARLEIGH. 

Applauded by Two Hemispheres and Excelled in 
Noneo 


68 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


This brightly colored (in more senses than one) 
poster then went on to say : 

Miss Farleigh will be Assisted by 

Mrs. FLORENCE KING, 

The Eminent New York Soprano, 

Mr. REGINALD FAIRFAX, 

The Famous Boy Orator, and 

MASTER CLAIR DUFFET, 

Only Fifteen, and Accompanist 

‘‘Who is Mr. Reginald Fairfax? "Guy wanted to 
know. 

“ Why, that’s you of course," returned Ward, “ and 
‘ Master Clair Duffet, only fifteen,’ is your humble 
servant Not content with turning me into a French- 
man, our friend the colonel must needs dock me of 
a year on my age. I suppose he’ll be wanting me to 
appear in knickerbockers to sustain the illusion.” 

Poor Ward spoke better than he knew. They had 
barely reached the hotel, where the two boys were 
assigned a room together, when the colonel presented 
himself in the doorway, smiling contentedly, and 
rubbing his hands together in a manner which, as 
Ward whispered to Guy, “ meant business.” 

“ Here we are, young gentlemen," he began, “ all 
ready to commence our work. As soon as the ladies 
are a little rested we shall walk around to the opera 
house for a rehearsal, and meantime — ah, by the way. 


GUY HAMMERSLBYr 69 

Hammersley, you brought your dress suit with you, 
did you ? ” 

“Yes, I have it in the trunk here, and expect to 
wear it to-night,” replied Guy. 

“And you,” went on the manager, turning to Ward, 
“ have you yours with you, too ? ” 

“I haven't any,” said the boy, bluntly. 

“Ah, that is too bad,” murmured the colonei, and 
for an instant he seemed to be buried in profound, 
melancholy reflection. Then he suddenly raised his 
head and brought two fingers of his right hand with 
an impressive whack against the palm of his left. 

“ The very thing I ” he exclaimed. “You English 
chaps are always playing football and other sports, 
and I’ll warrant you have a pair of knickerbockers in 
your trunk. They're coming into style again, you 
know, so you can wear them.” 

Ward was speechless for an instant Then, with 
all a Briton’s blood in his face, he retorted : “Colonel 
Starr, I have no suit such as you describe with me, 
and if I had, I would not wear it I did not expect 
to appear as a performer when I came away, and if 
I can't go on in my black cutaway and white tie, I 
can stay off and content myself with occupying the 
position it was originally intended I should fill — 
that of escort to my sister. ” 

“Oh, well, I only spoke for your own good and 
with an effort to make you feel as comfortable as 
possible during the performance,” returned the colonel 
with most unexpected mildness, and then he quietly 
withdrew. 

“That man is terribly exasperating, ” broke forth 


70 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 


Ward, when they were alone. “He won^t even 
please a fellow by getting mad. I expected nothing 
less than to have him storm out at me when I let 

loose on him in that fashion, but 

“ Still waters run deep, you know,” interposed Guy, 
“at the same time I am glad you asserted your in- 
dependence. You would have cut a pretty figure 
seated at the piano in a football suit” 

“Shouldn't I ? Only imagine it ! ” 

Then they both laughed, felt better, and soon after- 
ward went over to the opera house with the ladies 
for a rehearsal, little dreaming that an incident more 
marked than Ward’s appearance in a football suit was 
to make the evening performance memorable 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 




CHAPTER XL 

AN UNFINISHED SONG. 

** Magnificent, superb ! ” was the colonePs enthu- 
siastic comment when the rehearsal was over, and 
then he added : “Were going to have a splendid 
house. The advance sale has been something enor- 
mous. Now don’t any of you be seized with stage 
fright, and we shall score a grand success.” 

But when they had eaten dinner, and returned to 
the cheerless region behind the scenes of Brilling’s 
temple of amusement, not only were Ward and Guy 
quaking in their shoes, but poor Ruth was almost 
faint with nervousness, and Mrs. Hammersley was 
in equally bad case from worriment of mind caused 
by the deplorable condition of her fellow performers. 

“ The house is just packed,” Ward turned around 
from the peep hole in the proscenium arch to inform 
Guy. “ I don’t see how Starr can get out of giving 
your mother and my sister a good big generous eighth 
this time at any rate, as their share of the receipts.” 

Which shows that Ward Farleigh does not know 
Colonel Starr as thoroughly as he imagines he does. 

The programme for the evening after a good deal 
of discussion had been finally arranged as follows ; 


GC/y HAMMERSLE?. 


72 

Ward was to go on first and play an overture on the 
piano, then Mrs. Hamraersley was to sing, following 
whom Ruth would appear with her violin. Next 
Guy would come with a recitation, then his mother 
was to sing again, to be succeeded by Ruth’s second 
appearance and another reading by Guy, the whole 
to conclude with a lively march by Ward. 

“ A mighty slim showing,” commented the latter, 
tapping the elaborately got up bill of the play ” he 
held in his hand. I know I wouldn’t give a dollar 
to get in to hear it. I don’t see what’s brought all 
this crowd out.” 

“ Oh, they didn’t come to hear ; they came to see 
what the fifteen-year-old accompanist and the boy 
orator look like, same as they’d go to gape at freaks 
in a museum,” and there was more of bitterness 
than mirth in the laugh with which Guy punctuated 
his sentence. 

But now appeared Colonel Starr, announcing that 
it was time to begin, and, quaking in every limb. 
Ward stationed himself close to the O. P. entrance, 
while the imposing impresario, in dress suit and rose 
in button- hole, went forth to introduce his “peerless 
combination of talent ” to a Brilling audience. He 
soon came back to lead Ward out, and the latter could 
actually feel the sensation of disappoirvtment that 
ran through the hall when he was seen to be a youth 
of sixteen, holding his head very high and not look- 
ing in the least like the “ youthful prodigy ” to 
which the American stage has lately been treated in 
such liberal quantities. 

Not a hand was raised to applaud his entrance, 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


73 

and the colonel whispered through his set teeth : “I 
told you how you ought to dress. You’d better have 
taken my advice.” 

As may be imagined this species of “ I told you 
so” remark was not calculated to steady poor Ward’s 
tottering limbs, but by a seeming anomaly of condi- 
tions, this is what it actually served to do. 

I’ll show him that I’m worth something more to 
him than a show, ” he resolved, with sudden determi- 
nation, and the combination of indignation he felt 
against the colonel and the firm purpose to excel 
that had on the instant taken possession of him 
brought a sparkle to his eye and a color to his cheek 
that made him even handsomer than usual. 

He played entirely by ear, and sitting down at the 
piano, he struck into the popular overture to the 

Merry Wives of Windsor,” and rendered it with 
such verve and dash that when he ceased, a perfect 
storm of applause came as if by common consent, 
and irresistible impulse. 

Ward rose and bowed his thanks, but very politely 
declined to respond to an encore, and as he walked 
otf the stage with his limbs quite steady now, a young 
lady in the front seat gigglingly whispered to her 
neighbor : My, Lu, isn’t he stunning looking ?” 

Warmed into good humor, the spectators greeted 
Mrs. King ” (the stage name Mrs. Hammersley 
had assumed) with a burst of hand clapping when 
she appeared, led out by the young pianist who had 
captured their fancy by sheer force of will. And in- 
deed her appearance was such as to win admiration 
for her at the outset, before she had sung a note. 


74 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


Dressed in white, she looked so young that Ward 
found it almost impossible to believe that she was 
the mother of a son older than himself. He felt her 
hand tremble in his, and a great fear took possession 
of him that she would not be able even to begin her 
air. 

It was therefore with no little trepidation that he 
seated himself at the piano and played the few bars 
that preluded the “Carmen'' air she was to sing. 
But the sweet, pure voice struck in at the proper 
place, and the opera house was filled with the richest 
melody. 

Guy, listening with Ruth in the wings, thought he 
had never heard his mother sing so well ; and in 
spite of the adverse conditions under which she ap- 
peared, his heart swelled with pride to feel that she 
had it in her power to hold the vast audience spell- 
bound, for this she was clearly doing. 

The song was almost finished, and glancing for an 
instant out among the audience, Ward saw ladies 
drop their opera-glasses and gentlemen put their canes 
out of the way in readiness to break out into enthusi- 
astic applause. Suddenly the singer stopped short — 
there was a terrible pause, broken only by the few 
straggling notes that Ward struck in his confusion, 
then the same sweet voice was lifted once more ; 
but not this time in song. 

It was a cry, a scream almost, as the singer took a 
few rapid steps across the stage to a lower pros- 
cenium box on the left When she had almost 
reached it she sank down, with arms outstretched 
toward a boy of ten or eleven, who, in company with 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


75 

a tall dignified-looking gentleman with gray side 
whiskers, had just entered the box. 

The audience, as a matter of course, became at 
once greatly excited. Women shrieked, men sprang 
out of their seats, and some few made a rush toward 
the doors, under the impression that the house was 
afire.- Indeed, there were all the ingredients of a 
panic present, and it is possible that one would have 
ensued, had it not been for Ward. 

Seeing that Guy and the colonel had flown to Mrs. 
Hammersley's assistance, he decided that he could 
do the most good just where he was. So he at once 
struck into a lively air from Martha” and kept it 
up till Mrs. Hammersley had been helped off. Then 
seeing that the spectators had calmed down, he made 
a bolt of it behind the scenes himself t# find out 
what was the matter. 

"‘No, no, not you, Guy,” the mother was murmur- 
ing, trying to motion her son away from her. 

She was lying on a property lounge that happened 
to be standing just inside the wings and Guy was 
bending over her with anxious solicitude. That she 
seemed to want the attentions of Colonel Starr rather 
than his own, cut the poor fellow to the heart, and 
©n catching sight of Ward, he went off to lay his 
hand on the English lad’s shoulder and say in a 
broken voice : “Farleigh, I don’t know what’s come 
over mother. She doesn’t want me near her. ” 

“ Don’t mind, old fellow,” returned Ward, trying to 
put as much comfort as he could into the words. 
“The strain of singing so soon after the long jour- 
ney was too much for her. It has made her flighty. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


76 

Come off with me for a while, back here where we 
can be at hand if wanted. There, see Ruth has gone 
to her, and the colonel has been sent away. Sister's 
a splendid hand in emergencies, and you may rely 
on her doing just the right thing.” 

Meanwhile Colonel Starr had had a message feebly 
whispered into his ear by the poor lady, who had 
grown terribly pale, and he was now going off tp 
deliver it. 

But first he walked out to the center of the stage 
and addressed the audience. 

“ Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “I regret very 
much that our performance should have been inter- 
rupted in this manner. Mrs. King has received a 
very severe mental shock, from which she is now 
recovering. I doubt if she will be able to appear 
again this evening. However, we will know better 
about that after a physician makes his report. Mean- 
time, the star of the occasion. Miss Ruth Farleigh, 
will appear before you and with her violin bow draw 
forth such magic strains as the walls of this building 
have never before echoed back.” 

A round of applause greeted this grandiloquent 
speech and then the colonel stepped over to the left- 
hand box and was seen to speak a few words to the 
gentleman with the gray side whiskers. The latter 
immediately left the box and the colonel disappeared 
in the wings. 

“Judge Dodge is not a doctor. I wonder what he 
is going behind for? ” 

This was the question that a large proportion of the 
spectators put to themoelves when they saw this 


GC/y HAMMERSLEY. 


77 

little incident For Judge Dodge was known to all, 
being the magnate, so to speak, of Brilling. He 
owned a large amount of the most valuable property- 
in the town, including the opera house itself, and 
occupied a mansion on Elm Avenue that the towns- 
people regarded as little less than palatial 

He was a widower, and some few months previous 
had adopted the boy who was with him in the box. 
And the townspeople remarked how strange it was 
that Reginald, who was an exceedingly handsome 
little fellow, should have almost the same regal 
bearing that distinguished his grandfather,” as he 
had been taught to call Judge Dodge. 

‘‘Mrs. King seemed to be trying to get to his box 
when she fell,” was the next thought that flashed into 
the collective Brilling mind. “Truly, there is some- 
thing mysterious here.” 

The collective Brilling mind was right. There was 
a connection between Mrs. Hammersley’s fiasco and 
Judge Dodge’s box. 

The latter was connected with the stage, and 
Colonel Starr met the judge at the door. 

“You say Mrs. King wishes to speak with me,” 
the capitalist repeated, as he followed the colonel 
between stacks of dusty scenery to the dressing-room, 
to which the soprano had by this time been removed. 

“Yes ; she asked for you very earnestly as soon 
as she recovered consciousness. ‘The gentleman 
with the little boy,’ she kept saying. ‘I must see 
him ! ’ ” 

“Ah, it is the boy ! ” exclaimed Judge Dodge. 
Then, drawing a deep sigh, he added: “This is 
what I have been dreading all along,'' 


78 


GUY HAMMERSLEY^ 


CHAPTER Xir. 

RECALLING THE PAST. 

“Thank you. Colonel Starr,'* murmured Mrs. 
Hammersley, when the colonel presented himself at 
the door of her dressing-room, and introduced Judge 
Dodge. Then turning to Ruth, she added: “I am 
all right now, Miss Farleigh. Do not keep the audi- 
ence waiting any longer, but go back with Colonel 
Starr." 

“Yes, Miss Farleigh," spoke up the latter, “I 
promised that you would appear at once ; " and the 
colonel stood back from the doorway to allow her 
to pass out first 

When they were gone, “Madam," began Judge 
Dodge, “you wished to see me about my boy." 

“Yours, is he really yours?" burst forth Mrs. 
Hammersley, starting up from her chair. “No, it 
can't be possible. A mother's heart cannot deceive 
her. And I thought him lost to me forever. Tell 
me, I implore you, that he is not your very own.” 

Brilling's great man was strongly moved by the 
deep emotions of the woman whom, till this evening, 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


79 

he had never looked upon. In gentlest tones he 
begged her to be calm, and then, when he had in- 
duced her to resume her seat, he added : 

‘"No; Reginald is not my very own, though I 
love him as if he were. 

‘‘Then he’s mine — my lost boy Harold,” broke in 
Mrs. Hammersley. “Oh, let me see him — let me 
have him 1 Have pity upon a mother bereaved for 
nine years of her child’s love. ” 

“But think, madam,” rejoined the capitalist, “this 
is no place for a reunion such as that. Besides, 
Reginald would not understand it. If what you say 
is true, he must be prepared. Besides, I must have 
some particulars from you about the case before I 
can consent to indorse your claim. I do not mean 
to be harsh, but you yourself must surely see the 
justice of such a course.” 

“Yes, yes, I understand. I will tell you how it 
was. He is the son by my first marriage. We lived 
in Chicago. I was summoned suddenly, when he 
was about a year old, to Joliet, to the bedside of my 
dying mother. When the telegram came, Frank, my 
husband, had taken Harold, with the nurse, off to 
show him to an old chum of his who was confined 
to his room. There was no time to wait for them 
to come back if I wished to catch the express. I left 
word for them to follow me at once, and started off. 
I reached my mother’s side in time to hear her say 
her last words, and the next day read in the papers 
of a frightful railroad accident” 

Here Mrs. Hammersley paused for an instant, till 
she had mastered the emotions called up by the 


8o 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


recollections of this direful episode in her life. Then 
she went on rapidly : 

“My husband and Harold, with his nurse, were 
on the train. The cars were telescoped, and fire 
added to the horrors of the scene. When they told 
me that I could not have even the poor comfort of 
burying my husband’s and child’s bodies, I was taken 
down with brain fever, and lay for eight weeks un- 
conscious of what went on around me. ” 

“But, my dear madam,” Judge Dodge interposed 
at this point, “if your child was burnt in this holo- 
caust, which, now you speak of it, I distinctly recall, 
how is it that you claim my Reginald to be your 
son ? ” 

“ How can I help doing so when he is the living 
image of his father ? ” was the instant reply. 

“Then you believe ” 

“That there was some terrible mistake in the awful 
confusion following the accident There must have 
been other infants on the train, and Harold was 
claimed in the place of one that was killed. I am 
morally sure of it now ; legally, I suppose, we can 
only make ourselves so by tracing back the history 
of the boy you adopted. Can you give it to me 
briefly } ” 

“ Only this much of it : I found him at an orphan 
asylum in Chicago. I was lonely in my big home, 
and determined to bring to it some little fellow to take 
the place of the one I lost when my wife died. I 
was attracted to Reginald at once from my first glance 
at his face, and, inquiring into his history, ascertained 
that he had been in the institution only a month. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


8l 


He had been brought there from Johnstown, where 
his home and all his relatives had been swept away 
by the flood. ” 

‘'And their name was ” Mrs. Hammersley 

interposed. 

“Colburn,” answered the judge. “ Do you rec- 
ognize it ? ” 

“No,” responded the other. “But if we could 
find papers giving an account of the accident, and 
discovered it there, I am sure you would ask for no 
further proof.” 

“No, I could not do so, madam,” responded the 
judge, gravely. “ But perhaps you can realize what 
it would mean to me to give up Reginald now. I 
have never seen a more lovable child, and yet with 
all that I have done for him he seems to be not in 
the least spoiled.” 

“ What does he say about his life in Johnstown ? ” 
asked Mrs. Hammersley. “Was the family to which 
he belonged in good circumstances ? ” 

“ I understand so, and the boy has had an excellent 
grounding in his studies.” 

“Why, then, was it necessary to send him to an 
orphan asylum ? ” queried the lady, adding eagerly : 
“Don’t you see that this bears on my side of the 
case } Any of the friends, their lives spared by the 
terrible flood, but their property destroyed, may have 
had doubts all along about the child’s being a real 
Colburn, and now that they were forced to begin the 
world again, taken this opportunity of getting rid of 
a boy that was very possibly no kin to them. I can’t 
account in any other way for their allowing such a 


GUY HAMMERS LEY, 


%2 

child to be brought up by public charity. Oh, Judge 
Dodge, you must see, you must feel, that it is a 
mother’s heart pleads with you not to keep her longer 
away from her son I ” 

At this instant a burst of applause from the audito- 
rium made its way into the dressing-room. Ruth had 
finished her first selection, and the audience was 
clamoring for an encore. The sound served to re- 
mind the judge that he had left his boy a long time 
alone, and that the little fellow must be wondering 
what had become of him. 

But before he could decide what to do, Mrs. Ham- 
mersley continued : 

‘‘Let me see him, speak with him, if only for a 
moment You need not say anything to him about 
— about that of which we have been speaking. You 
will grant me this favor to-night, will you not ? " 

“Certainly, if you will accompany me back to the 
box. It has an ante-room, and the audience will not 
see you. But — ^but how shall I introduce you to 
Reginald ? ” 

“Can you not tell him that I am a friend — Mrs. 
Hammersley — say a friend of his father’s ? That will 
make it all right, will it not ? " 

“ I think so ; but the mention of his father reminds 
me to ask you if you have not a photograph of your 
husband that I could see. I could then satisfy my- 
self of the resemblance.” 

“No, I have none here, but there is one in a trunk 
that is in storage in New York. I will send for it” 

Mrs. Hammersley rose as she spoke, and the judge 
opened the door for hei* io pass out The softened 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


83 


strains of Ruth’s violin came to them as they threaded 
their way among the scenery to the entrance of the 
stage box. 

In the latter, Reginald was sitting at the front, his 
chin propped on his hand, gazing steadfastly at the 
beautiful girl on the stage, and Judge Dodge had to 
call him twice before he heard. 

“ Reginald, here is a lady who used to know your 
father. Come back and speak to her.” 

With one final look at the fair violinist the boy 
obeyed, and accompanied the judge to the rear of 
the box, where Mrs. Hammersley was seated on the 
divan. By a great effort she mastered her emotions, 
and, putting out her hand, drew the boy to her, kissed 
him once, and then held him off at arm’s length to 
look at him. 

‘^Why, you are the lady that sang that beautiful 
song ! ” exclaimed Reginald, “And you didn’t finisk 
it. It was so pretty, too.” 

Judge Dodge, who was watching the effect of the 
interview closely, noticed that the soprano’s lips 
twitched nervously as she heard the boy’s voice. 

“Why don’t you ask Mrs. Hammersley if she 
would not like to come to see you to-morrow and 
sing the song, through for you, Reginald?” he said. 

“Oh, will you?” cried the boy, putting out both 
hands impulsively to clasp hers. “I do so love 
music. You will come, won’t you ?” 

“ With all my heart, and what is more, I will sing 
another song to-night, for you, Reginald ; ” and, 

kissing him once again, she rose hurriedly, as if 
afraid to trust herself further, and returned to the stage 


84 


CC^y HAMMERSLEY, 


just as Guy stepped out toward the footlights to 
begin his recitation of Bridget Maloney on the 
Chinese Question.” 

But in what fearful contrast were the emotions of 
his heart to the sentiments on his lips ! From his 
post in the wings, where he had been standing in 
readiness to go on as soon as Ruth should finish her 
encore, he had seen his mother enter the private box, 
and twice kiss the little boy whose beauty even Ward 
had remarked upon. 

What did it mean ? Why did she seem to want 
him, her own son, out of the way ? Why, she was 
smiling back at the small boy now, and only two 
minutes before she had seemed like one in a faint ! 

Guy’s head swam as he tried to find a solution 
to the mystery, and all the while he went on me- 
chanically with his rendering of the mirth provoking 
monologue, not knowing at what instant he might 
break down. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


85 


CHAPTER XIIL 

MOTHERLESS. 

The ordeal was over. Guy had finished his recita- 
tion in great shape, and received an approving pat 
on the shoulder from Colonel Starr as he fairly dashed 
into the wings, so rejoiced was he that he had got 
through. 

“Now what will you give them for your encore ? 
asked the manager. 

“What, have I got to do it all over again?" de- 
manded poor Guy. 

“No, certainly not the same piece ; but a pathetic 
one would be best Don’t you hear them applaud- 
ing?" 

Guy certainly did, only too distinctly ; and, realiz- 
ing that the colonel had evidently counted on these 
recalls to lengthen out his programme to customary 
proportions, he saw there was no way out of it, and 
nerved himself to go back again and give a touching 
little ballad of Burns’s that brought tears to more 
than one pair of eyes in the audience. 

“And now I must see mother,” he told himself, 
when he came off. 


86 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


But he met her with a roll of music in her hand, 
about to go on and sing the song for which her name 
was down. There was a peculiar gleam in her eyes, 
and a strangely sweet yet sad smile overspread her 
face. She seemed not to see him as he passed close 
by her, nor to hear his low, pleading cry, “ Mother I ” 
Her gaze was fixed on that stage box opposite. 

** What can have come over her that she should 
seem to avoid me so ? ’’ the poor fellow murmured ; 
and, dropping into a rustic seat just within the side 
scenes, he buried his face in his hands and sat thus 
all through the air from ‘ ‘ Trovatore, ” which his mother 
sang as he had never heard her sing it before. 

And what a perfect storm of applause broke forth 
on the conclusion of the song ! Ladies waved their 
handkerchiefs and men cried Bravo / Bravo ! ” and at 
last, in response to the overwhelming demand, she 
gave ‘‘Home, Sweet Home.’" 

This completely broke Guy up, and so Mrs. Ham- 
mersley found him when she came off with Ward. 

“Oh, my boy,” she half gasped, and took his hands 
in hers as she passed in front of him. 

“Mother,” he cried, looking up through the mist 
that had gathered in his eyes. “ What is it ? What 
have I done that you can no longer confide in me, 
your son ? ” 

“My sow /^” she repeated, starting back, almost 
as if the words had been a blow. Then “ How can 
I tell him ? how can I tell him ? ” she repeated to 
herself. 

Then seeming to nerve herself, she added : “Come, 
Guy, come to my dressing-room with me. It is not 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


S7 

right I should longer keep you in ignorance, although 
I had— no, I cannot say hoped — I had expected to 
do so always.” 

These words only served to disquiet Guy still more. 
Why should his mother have ceased to hope for the 
continuance of that which affected his welfare, he 
asked himself? But it was a question he could not 
answer, could only possess his soul in patience till his 
mother should explain. 

“Guy,” she began at once, as soon as they had 
reached the little room under the iron stairway that 
led to the fly gallery, “do you remember anything 
of your early life — before you were five years old, I 
mean ? ” 

“Not very distinctly, mother,” he answered. “I 
have often wished I could have a picture in my mind 
of what my father was like. ” 

“Then but here the poor lady broke down, 

and sobbing out, “Oh, how can I tell him?” she 
put her arms about Guy's neck and clung to him des- 
perately while she murmured : “If there was only a 
middle way, but there is none. ” 

“Why do you ask me this, mother?” rejoined 
Guy. “And what has it to do with your fainting on 
the stage a little while ago ? And tell me who that 
gentleman with the gray whiskers is, and that little 
boy you kissed. I do not remember ever to have 
seen them before.” 

Mrs. Hammersley lifted her head and answered 
quickly, as if not to give herself a chance to think : 
“ That little boy is my son, Guy.” 

“Then he is my brother, but I never knew 


88 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


“No, my boy, he is not your brother/' 

“How can this be, though? If he is your son 
he must be. ” 

“No, because I was a widow when I married 
your father.” 

Then came the inevitable conclusion which the 
mother had all along foreseen and dreaded. 

“But this little fellow cannot be more than nine or 
ten. I am seventeen, and so — so if you are his very 
own mother, you can’t be mine. Is it true ? Tell 
me, what does all this mean ? ” 

There was silence in the little room for an instant, 
while again, as during the former interview that had 
taken place there, the softened tones of Ruth’s violin 
came floating in, reminding Guy of the “ slow 
music ” he had heard many times when attending 
the theater and a highly emotional play was being 
performed. How little he had imagined that such 
strains would ever serve as an accompaniment to 
a scene in his own life that was more thrilling in 
momentous interest than anything he had ever 
witnessed on the stage ! 

“ Yes, Guy, my boy, it is true ! ” responded Mrs. 
Hammersley, softly. “ But that doesn’t prevent my 
caring for you as if you were my very own.” 

“ But why haven’t I known of this before ? ” Guy 
wanted to know. 

“Because, as I said, I trusted that it might never 
be necessary to tell you. When I married your father, 
you were a little fellow of five, and I took you at 
once to my heart of hearts, in place of the baby I 
thought was lost to me forever. And with your 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. Sg 

father's full consent you were brought up to believe 
that I was really your mother.” 

But — but I don’t understand how you could do 
that,” said Guy. The whole thing still seemed utter- 
ly incomprehensible to him. He felt as though the 
foundations of the universe had been suddenly over- 
turned. “ I should think some one, some one of our 
friends, would have been certain to have said some- 
thing in an unguarded moment that would have 
roused my suspicions. ” 

That was easily managed. Soon after our mar- 
riage we removed from Chicago to Cincinnati, and 
all the friends we made there believed you to be my 
son, for neither your father nor I had ever been there 
before.” 

“ But where was your own son all this time, the 
boy who’s out there in the box at this very minute, 
and who of course is more to you than I am ? ” 

In spite of himself, Guy’s tone took on a touch of 
bitterness. He felt that now indeed he was alone in 
the world, that there was no person to whom he had 
a right to go with his troubles or his joys, that the 
beautiful song of ** Sweet Home ” she whom he so 
devotedly loved had just sung, had no meaning for 
him except an inexpressibly sad one. 

‘ ‘ Don’t speak that way, Guy, ” implored Mrs. Ham- 
mersley, ** as if you felt I had not room in my heart 
for two. You surely can’t believe that I love you any 
less than I did when I first came into this place?” 

“ No, I can’t say that, mother ” (Guy half choked 
over the word, as if doubting his right to utter it), 
but then I have no longer that claim on you that that 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


90 

pretty little boy yonder has. But you haven’t ex- 
plained to me yet where he has been all this time, 
and why it was you thought he was lost to you 
forever.” 

Briefly Mrs. Hammersley detailed the facts with 
which the reader has already been made acquainted, 
concluding by stating that she must return at once to 
New York to get the photograph which would prove 
her right to the guardianship of her boy. 

‘‘ But how can you do that ? ” broke in Guy. ' ** You 
know we leave here in the morning for Columbus, 
where we are booked to give a concert to-morrow 
night.” 

“ I cannot go,” rejoined Mrs. Hammersley in firm 
tones. “ That is all there is about it. This matter 
is of vital importance to me and must be attended to.” 

At this instant there was a hasty knock at the door 
and Colonel Starr presented himself. 

“ Hammersley,” he said, addressing himself to 
Guy, “ we are waiting for you.” 

There was no help for it. With his heart wrung by 
the new phase his life had so suddenly assumed, the 
boy was compelled to go through with another 
humorous recital. But luckily it was now late in the 
evening, so no encore was demanded, and as soon 
as possible Guy returned to Mrs. Hammersley’s 
dressing-room. 

Here he found his mother and the colonel engaged 
in a wordy war. 

** I have your signature, madam, to my contract,” 
the latter was saying, ‘^gfuaranteeing me so many 
appearances, such contract not to be broken by either 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


9 * 

party without two weeks' notice. You must either 
remain or pay a forfeit of I500.” 

** But I must return to New York to-morrow night,” 
insisted poor Mrs. Hammersly, who was all at sea in 
the world of business. “There's something in a 
trunk at a storage warehouse 1 must get, and no one 
else will be allowed to open it” 

“ They know me there, and I can get it for you, 
mother,” spoke up Guy at this moment “ Let me 
go. I am not under contract, and besides, I shall 
never rest till I have vindicated myself of that charge, 
I have never been easy in my mind since I left New 
York. Now I can go back there and be serving you 
at the same time.” 


CUV HAMMERSLEY, 




CHAPTER XIV. 

BACK TO NEW YORK. 

“ And am I not to be considered in these arrange- 
ments at all ? ” broke out Colonel Starr, when Guy 
had finished. Who has given you leave of absence, 
sir ? ” 

“I was not aware that it was necessary for me to 
ask for such,” responded Guy, quietly. “As I said 
just now, I have made no contract with you, but in 
consideration of my leaving so suddenly, I will waive 
the right to receive any pay for to-night’s services.” 

The colonel consented to be mollified by this con- 
cession, and so it was settled that Guy should return 
to New York by the first train the next morning. 
From Mrs. Hammersley he took money enough to 
pay his railroad fare, but could not be prevailed upon 
to accept a cent more. 

“No, mother,” he said, “ there is no knowing how 
you may be situated. You know I do not trust 
Colonel Starr. By the way, has he made any settle- 
ment for to-night’s performance ? ” 

“ No. I didn’t think to ask him about it Should 
I ? Is it time ? ” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


93 


•*I will speak to Ward about it,” said Guy. 

So when the four met in the hotel parlor for a few 
minutes, to talk over the performance before separat- 
ing to their rooms, Guy drew young Farleigh aside 
and said : “The colonel led us to understand that a 
settlement would be made after each evening’s enter- 
tainment Has he said anything to your sister about 
it to-night? ” 

“No, not till I jogged his memory about it,’^ 
replied Ward. “And then how much do you think 
he told me would be Ruth’s share ? ” 

“ I couldn’t guess, but it ought to be a good deal, 
for the house was just packed.” 

“That’s where you’re wrong. Ten dollars is all 
that is coming to her I ” 

“Ten dollars 1 ” whistled Guy. “Why, there’s 
some mistake, or else he’s deliberately cheated you, 
as he will us. Didn’t you make a fuss about it ? ” 

“ Trust me for that I declared that the size of the 
house spoke for itself, and that my sister ought to 
have a hundred dollars as her share of the receipts at 
the very least. Oh, you know I’m not afraid of the 
colonel, Hammersley, and I just reared around that 
box office while Ruth was getting dressed, till I got 
him pretty mad, I can tell you. ” 

“ Well, and what explanation did he give ? ” de- 
manded Guy, breathlessly, who, for his mother’s 
sake, had a vital interest in the matter. 

“Why, he told me that two thirds of the house 
was ‘ papered,’ let in free, because it was the first 
night and he wanted to get a good ‘send off,’ as he 
called it. Well, there’s one consolation about it.” 


GC/y HAMMERSLEY. 


94 

added Ward with a funny little groan, “ he can*t 
have a first performance twice. ” 

“ But he's equal to trumping up some other excuse 
to keep us out of our rights," rejoined Guy. ** I 
don't believe half he tells me, and I'll venture to say 
he's cleared a big thing by to-night's performance. 
One of the men about the theatre told me that Brib- 
ing was his native town, and that everybody was 
anxious to see what sort of a show he could get up. ” 
“I suppose that's the reason he opened here,” re- 
turned Ward, “ but I say, old man, what's this I 
hear about your going back to New York in the 
morning.? ” 

“It's true; and I'm awfully glad the opportunity 
has come. Perhaps you'll know some day why I 
feel so. I don't mind telling you now, though, that 
I haven't been myself since you've known me. ” 
“I've noticed one thing,” returned Ward, “and 
that is that you've seemed livelier since you've made 
up your mind to go back to New York. But I shall 
miss you terribly, Hammersley. I'll have nobody 
with whom I can rake the colonel over the coals.” 

“ You can do it with me by letter if you will. As 
soon as I get settled I'll let you have my address, 
and then I wish you'd let me hear from you now 
and then, and tell me how things are going. You 
know mother isn't as distrustful of the colonel as I 
am, and her accounts of matters are apt to be glossed 
over for the sake of avoiding rows. There, she wants 
me, and we'll probably sit up late talking over plans, 
60 don’t lie awake for me. Good-night” 

It was late when Guy and his mother — for as such 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


95 

she insisted that he must still regard her — separated 
after that final interview preparatory to his departure. 

“But, Guy, why won’t you let me give you 
some money beyond your traveling expenses ? ” she 
pleaded. “You will have your board to pay, and 
may not succeed in getting anything to do for 
some time.” 

“Well, is that any reason I should burden you 
with my support?” returned Guy. “Other boys, 
younger than I, have made their way in great cities 
without assistance from their friends. Besides, I 
know how reduced your stock of money is, and that 
your expenses will necessarily be heavier with Harold 
to care for, to say nothing of the cost of the steps 
you must take to prove that he really belongs to 
you.” 

“But what if you are not able to obtain a position, 
Guy?” 

“Don’t fret about that Didn’t I get one at the 
shoe store within twenty minutes after I lost my first 
one?” 

“ But you lost that one before the day was over.” 

“That was only chance, Mr. In wood happening 
to come in there. But I mean to do my best to clear 
away that stain on my name connected with that 
lost thirteen dollars. I know I didn’t steal it Some 
one must have, and I mean to make it my business 
to find out who it was. First, though, I will go to 
the storage company and get that picture for you.” 

“Stay at Miss Stanwix’s if she has room.” 

Guy promised and then bade Mrs. Hammersley 
good-bye — for the train left so early in the morning 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


96 

that he would not consent to disturb her then. There 
were thus left to him but very few hours of sleep, 
and these he could not utilize. His brain was all 
afire with the strange happenings of that night which 
had made him motherless, while still she to whom 
he gave that name lived. 

But his reflections were not all tinged with melan- 
choly. Mingled with them was an inspiring sensa- 
tion of independence, of liberty to go back to the 
city where his fair fame had been sullied, and wrestle 
with fate till he had removed the blot So he lay be- 
side sleeping Ward through the remaining hours of 
darkness, building air castles such as youth only can 
construct 

Thus there was no danger of his oversleeping, and 
in the uncertain light of early morning he arose, 
packed his satchel, ate a hasty breakfast, got a sleepy 
porter to carry his trunk over to the station, and was 
soon whirling back upon the road, which, when he 
had sped over it the previous day, he thought he 
should not again traverse in that direction for many 
months. 

The train was not crowded, and as soon as he was 
settled he proceeded to take account of stock, as it 
were. It did not take long to do this, unfortunately, 
for he found that he had but fifteen dollars all told. 

But I’ve heard of fellows who afterwards turned 
out to be millionaires, coming to New York with not 
a quarter as much money as that in their pockets. ” 

As the train went on and the day grew older, the 
cars filled up, and at last the only seat left was the 
one beside j Guy . 


GC/V HAMMERSL EY. 


07 

“One woula tnmk they were all afraid of me,” he 
said to himself, “ or else had heard about my experi- 
ence at the office of the Fireside Favorite” 

Then for the want of something better to do he fell 
to wondering if the seat-mate that he must have 
before long would be a man or a woman. 

“If I was the hero of a story book,” he said to 
himself, “ a wealthy merchant would come in at the 
next station, take a seat next me, pull a roll of bills 
out of his pocket as he takes out his ticket, which 
drops on the floor, and I pick up and restore to him 
instead of pocketing, to be rewarded by the offer of 
a twenty dollar a week position in the merchant's 
office.” 

Guy had just about added the finishing touches to 
this picture when the train drew up at the next station, 
and the only passenger to enter that car was a small 
boy of eleven or twelve, with fair hair, a pale but 
interesting face, and a carpet satchel so heavily laden 
that he could barely carry it Staggering under his 
burden, he reached Guy's seat and dropped into it 
quite exhausted. 

But he was up again in a minute as a little girl's 
head appeared in the doorway, and a trembling voice 
cried out : “ Good-bye again, Jack ! ” 

“Oh, Tot get off, quick! You will be killed,” 
and the boy made a wild rush for the door. 

Guy saw him take the little girl in his arms for one 
brief moment then he disappeared with her for an 
instant and, just as the cars moved off, he came 
back slowly, trying to look out at the station over the 
passengers’ heads, and with a suspicious glitter in 
each eye. 


J^AMMEHSLEV. 




CHAPTER XV. 

JACK BRADFORD. 

Gtdy’s heart was touched by the sight of this very 
4ttie fellow who was evidently setting out on a long 
?oumey by himself For the moment he forgot his 
own trials and perplexities, and wondered if he could 
do nothing to throw a little brightness into the life of 
lais seat-mate. 

“Wouldn’t you like to sit next the window?” he 
asked, presently, “ I’d just as lief change places with 
you. ” 

The grateful look that flushed the pale face of the 
boy amply repaid the older lad for the slight sacri- 
fice involved in making the change. 

“Thank you,” the little fellow said. “You see I 
Know all the country round here just as well, and I 
mayn’t see it again for a long, long time. Look, off 
yonder ! there are the woods where we go for nuts 
and Ben Wiggin fell out of a tree and broke his arm 
last fall.” 

“Did he?” ejaculated Guy, finding that he was 
expected to say something. 

“Yes, and here’s the river where we go swim- 
ming,” went on the boy, pressing his face close 


G(7y HAMMERSLEY, 


99 

against the glass to catch a last glimpse of it as the 
train dashed across the bridge with the usual hollow 
rumbling “I came near getting drowned there last 
winter. I skated right into an air hole. I was get- 
ting awful cold when they pulled me out Did you 
ever fall through the ice ? ” 

Guy was compelled to admit that he had never 
afforded anybody the opportunity to make an heroic 
rescue ; but another sort of ice being thus broken, 
the two boys, the big one and the little one, were 
soon chatting like old friends. 

It did not take long to learn his companion's story. 
His name was Jack Bradford, he had lost his father 
and mother a month before, within a week of each 
other, and there was only his little sister Nellie and 
himself left She had been adopted by the family of 
a kind neighbor, where Jack himself had been given 
a home till his Uncle John — for whom he had been 
named and who lived in New York — could be heard 
from. 

“We hadn’t seen him since I was a little baby,” 
Jack explained, “and almost the last thing pipa said 
was that I must have his advice. So Mrs. Wiggin 
wrote to him, but there didn't any answer come for 
ever so long, because you see we didn’t know exact- 
ly where to send the letter. When uncle got it though 
he wrote back and said he was porter in a big Japa- 
nese store on Broad wa3% and that if I'd come on to 
New York he could get me a place as cash boy there 
at two dollars a week, an’ I could live with him an' 
Aunt Louisa. But it was awful havin’ to leave Nellie 
behind. I’m goin’ to work dreadful hard though, an’ 

LofC. 


100 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


perhaps some day I can make enough to have her 
come on to New York and live with me.” 

“What a brave, hopeful little chap it is,” Guy said 
to himself, and contrasting his own lot in life with 
that of his seat-mate, he took courage and felt that 
the outlook for him was not so dark as it might have 
been. 

When they reached Harrisburg and changed to an 
express train they took dinner together, and Guy gave 
Jack his own lighter satchel to carry while he took 
the heavy one, and then they found seats together 
again in the other train, for Guy could not now afford 
to travel in the Pullmans. Jack never having been 
away from home before was intensely interested in 
everything he saw, and not till it grew dark did he 
let his head fall back and drop off to sleep. 

The train was due in New York at 9.20 p. m., and 
here Jack expected his Uncle John to meet him at the 
upper ferry. 

“You don’t know what he looks like, do you?” 
asked Guy as they left the boat 

“ No, but he said he’d be looking out for a little 
boy with a big bag, and there isn’t any other on 
the train, so I can’t miss him,” returned Jack, confi- 
dently. 

But he did miss him, nevertheless, and for the very 
good reason that Mr. John Bradford was not there. 
Jack’s face grew lengthy as he stood there under the 
sizzling electric lamp, holding his heavy bag, which 
he would not let Guy take for fear, without this means 
of identification, his uncle would pass him over. 
Everybody went off across West Street and was 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


101 


swallowed up in the darkness ; only a few cabmen 
were left, too sleepy to insist that Guy should avail 
himself of their services. Another boat came in, and 
still no Mr. Bradford. 

“ Don’t wait,” said Jack, trying not to let the lump 
in hfs throat make his voice tremble. ‘‘ I don't want 
to keep you.” 

“You don't suppose I'd go off and leave you alone 
in a strange city, do you ? ” rejoined Guy, giving the 
hand he held a reassuring pressure. Then he added ; 
“ Do you know where your uncle lives, or only the 
store address ? ” 

* ‘ I've got the letter in my pocket, ” was the reply. 
“Maybe it’s on there. I don’t remember about 
it” 

Jack dropped the bag for an instant while he felt 
for the letter, which Guy was soon endeavoring to 
spell out under the glare of the electric lamp. For 
Mr. John Bradford was doubtless a better porter than 
scholar, and, as a matter of fact, Jack surpassed him 
in both writing and spelling. After a little study Guy 
finally made out that the letter was written from one 
hundred and ninety something, West Sixty-Third 
Street. 

“That must be near Tenth Avenue,” he added, 
“so we can get in a car and ride straight up there. 
Come, I will go with you. Your uncle has probably 
been detained or else made a mistake himself in the 
ferry. ” 

“Oh, will you do that?” cried Jack, overjoyed. 
“ Do you know I think you’re awful good. And just 
think, you didn’t know me till nine o’clock this morn- 


102 


Gl/y IIAMMEJiSLEY. 


ing. Won't it be ever and ever so much out of your 
way ? ” 

No, because I don't know yet just where my way 
is,” laughed Guy, for he knew it was now too late to 
get in at Miss Stanwix’s that night, and had decided 
that he would take a room at some hotel. ‘‘Here 
comes a car now.” 

It was after ten when they got out at Fifty»Ninth 
Street and started to cover the remaining distance on 
foot. Jack was terribly sleepy, and Guy himself 
pretty well worn out If he could only have foreseen 
that which lay before him and which was now so 
close at hand, all sense of fatigue would have been 
forgotten. On reaching Sixty-Third Street and find- 
ing the row of apartment houses which bore one- 
ninety as their predominating number, the problem 
presented for solution was which of these was the 
abode of the Bradfords. 

Again Guy studied the letter from Jack's uncle, 
and finally concluded that the final figure was either 
a seven or a one, and as the one was nearer at hand 
he decided to try there first. But one difficulty was 
surmounted only to make way for another. 

It was after ten o'clock, as has been said, and the 
outer door was closed and locked, cutting off access 
to the bells inside. 

But Guy did not allow this to stand in his way long. 
Taking his cane, he tapped with it against the window 
on his left, belonging to the lower flat of the building, 
and through the shade of which the glow of gaslight 
made itself apparent. 

A scream, half stifled, followed the rap, and then 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


103 

the shade was run up, the sash raised, and a girl's 
head thrust out of the window. 

She was about eighteen and rather pretty, but her 
face was spoiled by the evident knowledge she had 
of her attractions. Her hair was banged on her low 
forehead almost to her eyebrows, diamonds that must 
have been paste glittered in her ears, and a horseshoe 
breastpin gleamed in the gaslight from the street 
lamp at her throat. 

But this lamplight which revealed her display of 
jewelry to Guy also shone full on his face, and he 
had scarcely time to make the observations set down 
above, when the girl cried out : “Oh, have pity on 
me, and don’t give me up to the police. Come in 
quick, before an officer happens along, and I will 
confess, I will, truly.” 

For one brief instant Guy thought the girl must 
have lost her senses, then the meaning of it all came 
over him like a flash. He had seen her before. It 
was at the office oi the Fireside Favorite^ and the cause 
of her present terror was the belief that he had come 
to tell her he knew it was she who had stolen the 
thirteen dollars. Truly, his befriending of little Jack 
had brought him speedy reward. 

The boy's eyes were round with wonder at these 
unaccountable proceedings, but he asked no ques- 
tions, and in two minutes the door was opened, and 
the girl’s voice in the hallway bade them come in. 

So absorbed was Guy in the matter which so vitally 
concerned his own welfare, that for the time being 
he forgot all about the object that had brought him 
into the neighborhood, and neglected to make the 


104 


GC/y HAMMERSLEY, 


inquiry that had been on the tip of his tongue when 
he gave that lucky tap with his cane on the window 
pane. 

“Come into the parlor here,” whispered the girl, 
“ and don’t make no noise, for I wouldn’t have father 
know for worlds.” 

She led the way into a room, with chairs stuffed 
with horsehair standing at stiff angles about the edge, 
a red and green carpet, a chromo of a girl holding a 
bunch of grapes over the mantelpiece, and an engrav- 
ing of George Washington on horseback between the 
windows. 

The girl closed the door by which they had entered, 
then did the same by one leading to the rear of the 
flat, and finally came up to stand in front of Guy 
and say in a pleading voice: “Tell me what you 
want me to do, only don’t let them take me to jail” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


105 


CHAPTER XVI. 

, GUY FINDS THE THIEF. 

"Then it was you who stole that thirteen dollars 
Irom Mr. Inwood, and you knew that I was bearing 
the blame of it ? ” 

Guy could not avoid giving a bitter ring to his tones 
as he stood facing the girl who had been the means 
of bringing upon him all the mental misery of the 
past few days. 

“ Why do you ask me that when you knew it and 
came here to taunt me with it?’' 

The girl had dropped into one of the horsehair 
chairs and sat rocking herself back and forth, with 
her hands over her face. 

Guy was on the point of declaring that he had no 
such knowledge, but decided that such an admission 
might be an unwise one for him to make, so he walked 
over to the girl’s chair, and, bending down, said 
softly : 

“Why did you do such a thing? I am sure you 
are sorry for it, and, if you tell enough to clear me, 
I will do all I can to prevent their sending you to 
prison. But first you will have to tell me all about 
it.” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


ic4 

“ I will, oh, I will,” half sobbed the girl. It was 
all on account of these,” and she touched one of the 
paste earrings. “I wanted them, an’ didn’t have 
the money. I was foldin’ papers right where I could 
look into Mr. Inwood’s office, an’ I saw that gentle- 
man pay him some money that he laid right out on 
his desk, and then pulled down the lid an’ went out. 
I’d never stole nothing in my life, an’ didn’t think of 
doin’ it then, not till you come in an’ walked into 
Mr. Inwood’s room. I didn’t see you till just as you 
were cornin’ out, and then I thought how I could 
take the money an’ you’d get the blame. Oh, I know 
it was dreadful wicked, and I’ve suffered more’n I’ve 
enjoyed the earrings. I’ll work my fingers to the 
bone, too, an’ pay back the thirteen dollars, if you’ll 
only keep me from bein’ sent to jail.” 

“ But you must tell Mr. In wood about this, ” returned 
Guy. ‘‘You must clear me. I’ve come back to New 
York to see that this blot on my name, placed there 
so unjustly, was removed. Will you promise to do 
that to-morrow morning as soon as you get to the 
office?” 

“ Oh, I don’t work there any more,” answered the 
girl, a tinge of red coming into her sallow cheeks. 
“ I’m going to be married. Won’t it do if I write it, 
and say I’ll send the money ? ” 

“ If you’ll do it now, right away, it will, and let 
me have the paper,” answered Guy, who, on reflec- 
tion, decided that he had better not lose sight of the 
real culprit for a moment till he had that in his hand 
which would clear him to the satisfaction of Mr. 
Inwood and Mr. Fox. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


tOJ 

“ I ain^t much at writin'/* admitted the girl, as she 
took a pen and a bottle of ink from the mantelpiece, 
“but ril do the best I kin/* 

“I’ll tell you what to say,” suggested Guy, and 
then ensued a great search for a sheet of paper, which 
was finally found in the back room. 

At last the girl seated herself at the marble-topped 
table between the windows, from which she had first 
carefully removed the wax flowers in their glass case. 
Then Guy began to dictate : 

“ This is to certify that I ” 

Here he paused and inquired her name. 

“ Do you mean what it is now or what it will be 
next month ? ” she looked up to ask, with the nearest 
approach to a giggle she had given during the inter- 
view. 

“Your present name, of course,” answered Guy; 
and considerably abashed by his manner of receiving 
her request, she murmured faintly : 

“Lottie M. Crapfel.” 

“ That I, Lottie M. Crapfel, took from Mr. Inwood*s 
desk the thirteen dollars which Guy Hammersley 
was unjustly accused of appropriating, and will re- 
turn the same as speedily as possible. ” 

“ Is that all ? ** demanded the girl, looking up anx- 
iously, when, with many suggestions from Guy as to 
the spelling of the long words, she had completed 
the above confession. 

“All except signing your name at the bottom,” 
answered Guy, “and putting your address and the 
date.” 

“But there ain’t nothin’ about my not bein’ sent to 
jail,” she objected. 


io8 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


“Oh, ril attend to that, " Guy assured her. * ‘ They 
didn’t send me there, and I didn't even confess. I’ll 
take this down to Mr. Inwood in the morning, and 
will say all I can in your favor. I’m very much 
obliged,” he added, as he picked up the paper, 
folded it, and placed it in his breast pocket. 

‘ ‘ Obliged ? What for ? ” echoed the girl in surprise. 

“Why, for clearing my name in this way. Of 
course it was your duty to do it, but I can’t help but 
feel grateful. And now I will say good-night, but I 
mustn’t forget to ask you first the question that brought 
me here. I want to know if John Bradford lives 
in this house.” 

The girl dropped the pen with which she had been 
toying, and sprang to her feet. 

“ An’ is that all you knocked on the winder for? ” 
she asked, her breath coming hard and fast, while 
her eyes fastened themselves on the pocket where 
Guy had bestowed the confession as though she had 
the intention of making a spring to recover it. 

“Yes,” truth compelled Guy to admit. “You 
see, this little boy here, ” turning to Jack, who, during 
the writing of the letter, had fallen asleep in the rock- 
ing-chair, “ wants to find his uncle, and we were 
not sure of the number, so ” 

“And then you didn’t know I took that money till 
I told you just now ? ” cried the girl, in as loud tones 
as she dared use without fear of awakening whoever 
might be in the back room. 

“I knew it as soon as you screamed and begged 
me not to send you to jail,” confessed Guy, wishing 
with all his heart that he had postponed inquiring about 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


109 

the Bradfords till he got outside. He could easily 
have found some one about to give him the infor- 
mation he wanted. 

“Then I gave myself away, and you basely took 
advantage of my innocence to worm that confession 
out of me. If you are the gentleman you look to be, 
you will take it out of your pocket and tear it into a 
hundred pieces before my eyes.” 

Guy stared at the girl thunderstruck. 

“Why, if I should do that,” he retorted, “ Mr. In- 
wood would still believe that I was the one who took 
his money.” 

“Well, you are a man,” persisted Lottie Crapfel, 
“ and ought to be willin' to bear the blame to shield 
a woman. And then you tricked me into makin' that 
confession.” 

“Tricked you I You did it of your own free will. 
If I should give it back, I would be guilty of permit- 
ting you to act a falsehood, if not to tell one. Besides, 
you just now informed me that the memory of your 
act was a burden on your conscience.” 

“ But then I didn’t know you had deceived me in 
this way,” returned the girl, utterly unabashed by the 
hollow nature of her reasoning. 

Guy saw that the only thing to do under the cir- 
cumstances was to put on a stern front and refuse to 
be moved in the least by her pleadings, which, aroused 
merely by the realization of the fact that she had be- 
trayed herself, lacked the force they might have had 
but for this circumstance. 

“No, Miss Crapfel,” he said, “it would be fair 
neither to you nor myself to undo the good deed you 


lO 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


have just done. It has only been your plain duty, 
and after you have a chance to think it over calmly 
you must come to look at it as I do.” 

“ Oh, of course you can look at it calmly. You're 
in luck, and I'm not. Won't you give it back to me ? 
See, I'm on my knees in front of you.” 

Poor Guy ! He was in frightful case indeed. His 
natural impulse for the sake of peace was to give the 
paper back, but he felt as he had said that this would 
not only be unjust to himself, but would be harmful 
to the girl. And yet how was he to convince her of 
this ? He had tried to do so already, and failed. 

Lottie, what does all this mean ? What do you 
want given back to you, and who is this young man ? ” 

The door leading to the rear apartment had opened 
suddenly, and a man of about sixty, in a long wrap* 
per, stood on the threshold. 

The girl gave one terrified glance upwards, then, 
with a piercing scream, fell forward on the floor. 
Jack jumped out of his rocking-chair as if a bombshell 
had exploded under him, and ran to Guy for protec- 
tion. Mr. Crapfel hastened to raise his daughter from 
the carpet, and he had barely placed her on the sofa 
when hurried steps were heard in the corridor, the door 
was thrown open, and a crowd of terrified tenants 
rushed in. 

“ What's the matter?” 

“Where's the fire?” 

“ Who struck the gal ? ” 

“ Send for the police.” 

These were only a few of the excited exclamations 
that reached Guy's ear, as the little room filled with 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


111 


the Crapfels’ neighbors, most of the men in their shirt 
sleeves, and a few of the women with their hair done 
up in curl papers. Oh, why had he made that luck- 
less remark about John Bradford, he asked himself amid 
the din? 


112 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


GHAPTER XVII. 

A PRECIOUS DOCUMENT. 

PiNALLY Guy managed to make his way to Mr. OrapfeFs 
side. 

^^Send those people away,” he said, ^^if you can. Then 
we can have an explanation in private.” 

But this suggestion was by no means an easy one 
to carry out. The neighbors had flocked to the spot 
eager to be in at a sensation, and now, when they 
were informed that there was nothing at all the mat- 
ter, and that they would promote the peace of the 
Crapfel fireside by retiring at once, they were loath 
to go. They broke up into knots, and began to 
discuss the affair with meaning noddings of the head 
and elevation of the eyebrows, and such insinuations 
as ^‘Where there is so much smoke there must be 
fire.” 

Mr. Crapfel, however, was a man very set in his 
ways, and when he had carried his daughter into 
the back room and returned to place his hands on 
the shoulders of one or two inquisitive youths and 
propel them into the hallway with an emphatic 
“There I” some of the ladies took fright, and with 
whisperings of “The old man’s lost his mind; you 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


“3 

may be sure that's the trouble,” beat a precipitate 
retreat. 

In five minutes the room was cleared of all save 
Guy and Jack, and Mr. Crapfel was about to remove 
the latter in the summary fashion already described, 
when Guy broke in with : 

“ He is with me, and we will go at once if you 
will first speak to your daughter and ask if she wishes 
to see me.” 

‘‘ But I do not understand,” mused Mr. Crapfel, 
dropping into a chair and beginning to mop the 
perspiration from his forehead with a bandanna 
handkerchief. ‘‘You are a stranger to me, and ” 

At this moment the girl Lottie pulled aside the 
curtain that separated the parlor from the rear apart- 
ments. Her face was as pale as the handkerchief 
she held tightly clinched in her hand. 

“ It is about something that happened while I was 
at the Fireside office, father, ” she said, in clear, re- 
solved tones. “ This young man was blamed for it, 
when it was all my fault. I wrote him out a paper 
that would clear him, and — and wanted to get it 
back. But I will only have peace if he keeps it. ” 

She dropped the curtain again, leaving Guy and 
her father looking at one another mutely. 

The old man was the first to speak. He drew a 
heavy sigh and shook his head sadly from side to 
side, as he gave Guy his hand. 

“It is mournful business, young man/' he said, 
“ when a father must believe that a daughter has— 
has taken what is not hers. But, poor child, it is an 
affliction. Even as a little tot she couldn't keep her 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


1 14 

hands off other people's things. She thinks I don't 
know, but I do.” 

Guy knew not what to answer, nor how to console 
the poor old man. But he wrung his hand with a 
pressure that he meant to express sympathy, and then 
added : “One thing before I go, the question that 
brought me here to-night, in fact : Does Mr. Brad- 
ford live in this house ? ” 

“ No ; it is two doors west from here, the second 
flat.” 

“ Thank you ; good night,” and taking Jack, now 
almost dead from sleep, by the hand, Guy hastily 
departed. 

And as he got out into the pure night air and saw 
the stars twinkling down so peacefully, he thought 
of the precious paper in his breast pocket, and hoped 
he was not selfish in giving way to the rush of glad- 
ness that swept through his heart For his joy meant 
deep grief to the two inmates of the apartment he 
had just left Still, in the case of one it might be a 
sorrow that would work out the fruit of repentance. 

He said nothing to Jack about the strange scene of 
which the boy had been a witness. He hoped he 
had been too sleepy to pay much attention to it 

As they approached the doorway of which Mr. 
Crapfel had told them, they saw a man just ascend- 
ing the steps. He turned his head as he heard their 
footsteps behind him. 

“ Quick, give me the bag,” whispered Jack. 
“ Maybe it's Uncle John.” 

With a smile in the darkness at the odd means of 
identification, Guy passed the heavier valise over to 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


II5 

his young companion, and the latter’s sagacity was 
at once indorsed. 

“ By George, that must be the young^ster now 1 ” 
exclaimed the stranger ; then, putting a fat forefinger 
under Jack’s chin, he lifted up his face and asked 
bluntly : ** Say, bub, is your name Jack Bradford ? ” 
“ Of course it is, and you’re Uncle John,” cried 
the delighted boy. “ I knew you could tell me if 
you saw me lugging the bag. ” 

“ Bless my stars, you’re as bright as your father 
was afore you, poor man. But how did you get up 
here without my seein’ you. I’d like to know, when 
I went down to the ferry an’ acrost to the other side 
to meet you ? ” 

And this was how the uncle and nephew came to 
miss one another, Mr. Bradford having taken the 
time of reaching New York for the hour of arrival in 
Jersey City, and the two had doubtless passed one 
another in the middle of the Hudson River. 

“ I’m mortal much obliged to you, young man, 
for bringin’ this youngster safe up here,” said Mr. 
Bradford, touching his hat to Guy. 

“ Oh, it’s a lucky thing for me I did,” rejoined 
Guy, as he shook hands with Jack, and then insisted 
on doing the same with the uncle. “ I hope you’ll 
let me come and see you sometimes,” he added. 
“ I don’t want to lose track of my mascot, for such 
Jack here has proved to be to-night” 

Now neither Jack nor his uncle had the slightest 
idea of what a mascot was, but as Guy’s tone implied 
that it was something very nice, they felt compli- 
mented accordingly, and Mr. Bradford declared that 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


Ii6 

they would consider themselves honored if ‘‘the 
young gentleman would condescend to pass an 
evening beneath their humble rooftjee.” 

Five minutes later Guy was aboard a Boulevard 
car riding down to the Grand Union Hotel, where he 
had decided to pass the night The storage house 
where his mother’s trunks were was close at hand, and 
he would be enabled to execute his commission there 
in the morning before going down-town. 

He was afraid the act was somewhat childish, but 
he could not refrain from putting his hand for an in- 
stant every now and then against the pocket that 
held the paper which was to set him all right with 
Messrs. Inwood, Tretbar and Fox. 

“ I wonder how they will take it ? ” he found him- 
self surmising, and, indeed, this problem of the 
future, coupled with the exciting happenings of the 
recent past, kept sleep from his eyelids till a late 
hour, in spite of the downy couch with which mine 
host of the Grand Union supplied him for the reason- 
able sum of one dollar. 

The next morning he ate an eight o’clock break- 
fast in the caf6, glancing the while at the want 
columns of the World and Herald, He saw several 
possible openings, which he checked with his pencil, 
intending to look them up after his visit to the office 
of the Fireside Favorite and Fox & Burdell’s. 

“If I can’t do any better I maybe able to get 
back my place at the shoe store,” he repeated ; “at 
the same time I’d prefer something that wasn’t so 
far away from a man’s brain as his feet.” 

Leaving his hand luggage in the baggage room of 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


I17 

the hotel, he walked over to the storage building and 
spent about an hour there, and then returned to the 
hotel reading-room to write a brief letter to his 
mother, inclosing the photograph she wanted, direct- 
ing the communication to the third town on the 
route of the concert company. 

This duty attended to, he started for the office of 
the Fireside Favorite. 

He paused for an instant before he pushed open 
the door at the head of the three flights of stairs. He 
knew what he should have to face inside, and when 
he finally entered, the dozen or more girls all stopped 
work, just as he had expected they would, and gazed 
at him with round eyes and mouths ajar. 

“Would you please tell Mr. Inwood that Guy 
Hammersley would like to see him for a moment ? ” 
he said to the miss who finally managed to recover 
from her astonishment sufficiently to approach the 
railing. She was the one who had been set to watch 
him in Mr. Tretbar^s room that afternoon, and as 
Guy recalled the circumstance his cheeks burned in 
spite of him. 

He could see the advertising agent busily writing 
at his desk, and presently noted the annoyed expres- 
sion on his face when the girl delivered her message. 
He did not send word for his caller to come in, but, 
springing to his feet, came out to the railing with a 
frown on his forehead, and his pen held suspended 
between his fingers, as if to intimate that the inter- 
view must be extremely briefl 

“Well, sir,” he demanded, in no gentle tone, 
“ what brings you here ? ” 


ii8 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


‘*To ask you to read this,” replied Guy, in a voice 
which, by an effort, he made equally hard, and he 
passed over Lottie Crapfel’s confession. 

Mr. Inwood took it, and just as he began to read 
Mr. Tretbar appeared on the scene. 


ffAMMERSLEY. 


II9 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

A DASH OF DISCOURAGEMENT. 

The publisher of the Fireside FavoritCy as soon as 
he saw Guy, hurried forward, looking very black 
in the face. He had opened his mouth as if about 
to pour out the phials of his wrath on the head of 
him who dared show his face in the place again after 
the crime he had committed there. But he was 
checked by Mr. Inwood. 

‘‘Tretbar,” said the advertising man, “look at 
this,'* and he handed him Lottie Crapfel’s letter. 

An expression of pained surprise and defeated 
malice spread itself over the countenance of the pub- 
lisher as he scanned the few lines that proved him to 
have been in the wrong when he had asserted that 
his employees could not betray his confidence in 
them. 

“Well,” he snapped out, as he passed the letter 
back to Mr. In wood, and “Well?” the latter re- 
peated, turning to Guy. 

The latter was growing exceedingly wroth. 

“They haven’t even the grace to beg my pardon 
for being mistaken,” he muttered between his teeth. 
Then he said aloud ; “I wish you would write out 


120 


GUY HAMMERSLE Y, 


a brief statement of the case which I can hand to 
Mr. Fox. I will wait here for it.” 

They both turned away without a word, and in 
three minutes Mr. Inwood came back with a scrawl 
of half a dozen lines, which he handed to Guy with 
the remark, “There, will that do? ” 

“ Having received a confession from one of the girls employed in 
©ur office, we hereby exonerate the bearer from all charge of having 
appropriated the thirteen dollars. 

“Timothy J. Inwood.** 

“Yes, that will responded Guy, with some 
slight emphasis, when he had finished the perusal of 
the foregoing. “And now, before I go, I must ful- 
fill a promise I made to the girl who wrote out that 
confession.” 

“I suppose you hunted her to the death to wring 
it from her,” snarled the advertising agent. 

“On the contrary,” rejoined Guy, “it was by the 
merest chance that I encountered her, and it was her 
own accusing conscience at seeing me that impelled 
her to a betrayal of herself. I told her that I would 
do my best to induce you not to prosecute her, 
which request I now most earnestly make of you. 
Good-morning,” and without giving the other et 
chance to reply, Guy hurried off ; nor did he breathe 
unrestrainedly till he reached the street door. 

“I think they two would take the prize for the 
meanest men in the country, ” he told himself. ‘ ‘ Now 
if Mr. Fox seems disappointed when he learns he has 
misjudged me, my faith in male humanity will be 
sadly shaken.” 


GC/y HAMMERSLEY. 


121 


It was just twelve o’clock when he reached the 
familiar spot, and the doors were opening and shut- 
ting almost ceaselessly to admit the vanguard of 
hungry business men, 

"‘I wonder if they’ve got anybody in my place,” 
reflected Guy as he entered, and irresistibly his eyes 
sought the counter where he had been stationed. 
Yes, there was a sallow-faced youth, with reddish 
hair, in attendance upon it, and Guy did not know 
whether to feel disappointed or relieved. Of course 
he would like to secure a position at the earliest pos- 
sible opportunity, but then he had never been in love 
with his duties at Fox & Burdell’s. 

“Why, hello, Hammersley, how are you?” said 
the cashier, extending his hand as Guy approached 
the desk. 

This greeting was certainly in refreshing contrast 
to the reception accorded him at the Fireside Favorite 
office, and the boy’s heart warmed at once. 

“How are you, Scott?” he rejoined, returning 
the pressure. “ Is Mr. Fox about? I’d like to see 
him for a moment” 

“Easy to accommodate you, for here he comes 
now. ” 

Mr. Fox looked exceedingly surprised on seeing 
Guy, but the latter, with a simple “ Good-aftemoon, 
Mr. Fox,” placed the communication from Mr. 
Inwood in his hand, and then withdrew a step or 
two to give him time to read it 

“I congratulate you with all my heart,” exclaimed 
the restaurant proprietor, cordially, the next instant, 
as he gave Guy his hand. “ Come back in the office 
with me." 


122 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


Here Hammersley briefly related how he had se- 
cured the confession of the real culprit, and Mr. Fox 
appeared to be genuinely sorry that he could not 
take him back. 

“But I'll give you a first class recommenda- 
tion,” he added, “and as soon as I have a vacancy 
111 send for you, and give you the first chance if you 
haven’t got a better place.” 

This was certainly treatment in most grateful co»- 
trast to that which had been meted out to him at 
Mr. Tretbar’s establishment, and when Guy sallied 
forth ten minutes later to call at the first address on 
his list of possible positions, his spirits rose higher 
than is usually the case with those who start out on 
such a quest 

This first marked advertisement took him to a 
lawyer’s office in a big Broadway building, and after 
riding clear to the top floor in the elevator, he was 
met by the announcement that they had hired a boy 
five hours before. 

“But I ought to expect that,” Guy told himself 
“ at this time of day.” 

Nevertheless he resolved to go through his list 
Other firms might not be so easy to suit, and then he 
disliked the idea of passing another night without 
more settled prospects for his future. The next ad- 
dress took him over to Park Row, where a “ Mr. 
Hiram Ballard wanted a youth of 17 to 1 8 to assist 
in store.” 

“That surely strikes me off as to age,” reflected 
Guy, as he made his way with some difficulty 
along the crowded sidewalk, past the imposing news- 


GUY HAMMERSLEY 


*23 

paper buildings, in front of the bustling entrance to 
the Brooklyn Bridge, and between rows of importu- 
nate street fakirs, till he came to the designated num- 
ber. And glancing in at the window to see the 
nature of the business, he recoiled in a sort of horror 
for it was a pawnbroker’s shop. 

‘*No, no, not there,” he said to himself, as he 
turned and hurried away ; and then, as he realized 
what slow progress he was making, he could not 
but add the reflection : “ I may be compelled to resort 
there soon enough. ” 

The third advertisement was that of Hampton & 
Pitcher, harness merchants in Chambers Street. A 
life size wooden horse, rigged out with specimens of 
the blankets, halters and so on, sold within, stood 
in front of the door. The smell of the leather recalled 
strongly to Guy his summers in the West when a 
boy, and he had owned a pony cart in which he 
used to drive about the shaded avenues of Glendale. 

A man in a yellow duster came up to him as he 
entered, evidently under the impression that he had 
come as a purchaser. 

“You advertised for a boy in this morning’s 
paper,” began Guy, upon which the other interposed 
with: “Yes; see Mr. Hampton in the rear office.” 

Cheered not a little by the fact that he was to get 
as far as the interview, Guy walked to the back of 
the store and accosted a youngish man, with very 
black hair, who was seated at a desk under a sky- 
light 

“Yes, we do want a young man,” was the prompt 
reply to his question. “We’ve had no end of appli- 


124 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


cations for the position already to-day, but nobody 
suits. Have you had any experience with horses 

“ Yes ; both in riding and driving. I used to do 
a good deal of both up to a year ago.” 

“Well, that’s encouraging,” exclaimed Mr. Hamp- 
ton, turning round in his revolving chair so as to fully 
face Guy, and motioning the latter to a seat. “To 
the best of my belief, none of the fellows that were 
in here this morning had ever ridden behind steeds 
any more spirited than the car horse. You see I 
want somebody to help show off harness as if he 
knew something about it, and to throw in bits of 
personal experience, if necessary, which may gain 
us a customer. We pay eight dollars a week for a 
start. Have you had any experience in business 
here in the city ? ” 

“Yes, a little,” Guy admitted, and he drew the 
letter he had received from Mr. Fox out of his pocket 
and handed it to the harness man. 

The latter read it through and passed it back, with 
the remark : “A very strong recommendation, but 
if he thinks so much of you, how came he to let you 
go? 

“Owing to a very unfortunate occurrence,” re- 
joined Guy, feeling that he was growing most uncom- 
fortably red. “I was accused of something very 
unjustly, the guilty party afterwards confessed, and I 
was fully exonerated, but meanwhile Mr. Fox had 
replaced me with some one else.” 

“Umph ! ” Mr. Hampton leaned back in his chair, 
played a little tune on his teeth with his pen-holder, 


GUy HAMMERSL^Y, 


and then asked : “What was the charge? Stealing 
money ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Guy, and he was about to add the de- 
tails, when Mr. Hampton rose from his chair. 

“Never mind,” he said. “You needn't take the 
trouble to explain. I'd rather not have anybody here 
who has even been suspected. Good-afternoon.” 


GUY' HAMMERSLEY 


tt6 


CHAPTER XIX. 

HOMELESS. 

“How very unjust ! ” was the comment that rose 
to Guy’s, lips as he listened to Mr. Hampton s words ; 
but he did not utter it. He knew it would have been 
neither becoming nor judicious to do so ; there was 
nothing left for him but to bow to the man’s decision, 
and get out of the place as soon as he could. 

“Arthur May-Jones, commission merchant,” was 
the next name on his list. His place was not far off, 
in Hudson Street, and he had advertised for “a young 
man to make himself generally useful.” There was 
an ice cart backed up to the door when Guy arrived, 
and two men and a boy were assisting the ice man 
in piloting the cakes from the skid to the rear part of 
the store. 

“ I suppose that is one of the ways in which the 
young man is expected to make himself particularly 
useful,” reflected Guy, and then approaching another 
man who stood in the doorway watching the others 
work with a look of supreme satisfaction on his face, 
he asked if they had been suited yet with an ap- 
plicant in response to their advertisement in the 
Herald, 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


127 


Before replyingf, the man, transferring the tooth- 
pick he had been nursing in the left corner of his 
mouth to the right hand side of that aperture, re- 
crossed his legs, and after favoring Guy with a stare 
that took him in comprehensively from his derby 
hat to his well-blacked shoes, replied : “Yes, and 
unsuited, too/’ 

Guy looked puzzled, and the other, first glancing 
over his shoulder to be sure that the boy at work 
with the ice cakes was just then in the rear of the 
store, went on to explain : “No style about him. 
Can take in ice well enough, but no good to go around 
and drum up trade. Will give him his walking 
papers to-night Come back into the office and I’ll 
talk with you.” 

Guy followed this rather peculiar individual to a 
room partitioned off from the store proper with glass, 
where he was invited to take a seat 

“Now, then,” began the butter and cheese man, 
“ have you had any experience in our line ? ” 

“No, sir,” answered Guy. 

“ What have you been doing lately ? ” was the ne^d 
question. 

Guy replied that he had been connected with the 
Starr Concert Company. 

“ Oh, indeed, you are a singer, then ?” 

Guy was obliged to admit that he was not, and 
then briefly explained that he had gone with the com- 
pany simply because his mother was in it, and that 
he had left it to return to New York on business for 
her. 

“ Do you think you could adapt yourself to the 


128 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


commission business and boom the sale of butter and 
eggs after soaring in the high realms of art ? ” 

Guy smiled and said that he thought he could, and 
inquired into the duties he would be required to per- 
form. 

‘*Well, we might send you on the road to drum 
up trade among out-of-town customers after we got 
you worked in. Your salary to begin with would be 
seven dollars a week.” 

Guy was about to exclaim that he could not pos- 
sibly live on that, but checked himself in time with 
a recollection of the fact that he must now adapt his 
living expenses to his income, not the latter to the 
former. So after a little further conversation it was 
agreed that he should come down ready to begin 
work on Monday morning, for it was now Satur- 
day. 

‘‘And what are the hours, Mr. Jones? ” Guy asked 
as he rose, scarcely realizing his good fortune. 

The other made no reply for an instant, and Guy 
thought he even staggered backwards a step or two. 
Instinctively he turned his head to look towards the 
front of the store to see if anything had happened 
there to cause consternation in the mind of the pro- 
prietor. 

But all seemed to be in smooth running order, and 
Guy was about to repeat his question, under the im- 
pression that the commission merchant had not heard 
it, when he was utterly astonished to hear the other 
say : 

“ To you, sir, there will be no hours in this estab- 
lishment. I have no use for your services.” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


129 

“Very good, sir," and putting on his hat, Guy 
took his departure without loss of time. 

“The man must be weak in the upper story," he 
told himself when he reached the sidewalk. “I 
thought him a little queer when he first began to talk, 
but not enough so to change his mind so suddenly 
as he did just now." 

In fact Guy was so perplexed by the circumstance 
that for a time he forgot to feel grieved over it or 
to recollect that “Arthur May-Jones" was the last 
name on his list It was the sight of this name, as 
he paused to take a farewell glance back at the 
store in case the fickle proprietor should have again 
changed his mind, that gave to Guy a possible solu- 
tion of the mystery. 

“Great Scott I " he ejaculated, “I believe I forgot 
the hyphen and called the name plain Jones, instead 
of May-Jones. That was the only time I used the 
name, I remember, just at the last And he's just 
the sort of a man to make a mountain out of a mole- 
hill like that Well, it wouldn't do any good to go 
back and apologize, so I suppose I must put it down 
as a lesson in experience, and try again." 

And now it was on consulting his paper that he dis- 
covered that he had exhausted his list Besides, it 
was well on toward three o'clock, and being Saturday 
afternoon, merchants were beginning to close their 
stores. 

“And I haven't had any lunch either,” he added 
to himself. 

In the excitement of securing a situation, thinking 
that each fresh application might result in success, 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


IJO 

he had not been sensible of hunger. Now, with the 
chase postponed necessarily until Monday, he felt 
himself overpowered with fatigue and weakness. 

“I want a good meal, ''he muttered to himself with 
a mournful kind of smile, *‘just when I am least able 
to afford one. If I’d got a place and had a prospect 
of earning twenty dollars a week, say, I suppose I'd 
be so excited that I wouldn’t have any appetite at 
all" 

What to do next was now the question. There 
was his trunk still at the baggage room of the rail- 
road company. 

Never in his life had the poor fellow felt so desolate 
and unsettled. The very fact that he was walking 
along the street mechanically, not knowing whither 
he was going, actually sent a shiver through him as 
he realized it He must do something, go some- 
where, and feeling that a place for his trunk was the 
most pressing call upon him, he bent his steps 
toward an elevated station and took a train uj>- 
town, with the intention of calling on Miss Stanwix. 

He was plunged deep in gloomy meditations, hang- 
ing on to a strap as the train pulled out from the 
Eighteenth Street station, when he suddenly felt some- 
body tugging at his coat, and a half hesitating voice 
calling his name. 

He turned and saw Jack Bradford, his face radiant 
at the chance encounter. 

** I’ve just come from the store," he told Guy when 
they had shaken hands, * * and I like it ever so much. 
We close early on Saturday, you know." 

Guy noted the evident pride with which the little 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


13 1 

fellow brought out the “ we ” in his sentence, and 
although he tried honestly to rejoice in his good 
fortune, he could not but contrast their lots. All the 
way to Forty-Second Street the boy chatted gayly of 
the new life, and his happiness seemed actually to 
be contagious, for when Guy left him it was with the 
reflection that there must be many poor souls in that 
great city worse off than he was. 

A short walk brought him to the house where he 
and his mother had passed the summer. A new maid 
opened the door for him. Yes, Miss Stanwix was in, 
she said, and soon that lady appeared in the parlor. 

But when Guy asked if he could have his old room 
back, or another one, she smiled and shook her head. 

“ I haven't a single vacant apartment, Mr. Ham- 
mersley,” she said. “My rooms are all let now to 
the first of June.” 

“ Can you suggest a place where I might be able 
to get in ? ” inquired Guy. 

“ Well, I can't, not just now. You see we board- 
ing-house keepers must look out for ourselves, and 
unless you can promise that you will stay till next 
summer, I am afraid you will have some trouble in 
getting just what you want How did you leave your 
ma?” 

Guy made appropriate answer and then hurried 
away, although why he should hurry he did not know. 
He had neither home nor occupation nor mother 
now as he recollec<^ed with an added pang. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


13^ 


CHAPTER XX. 

A FRIEND WORTH HAVING. 

*‘Mr. Hammersley. Stop, please; here's some- 
thing for you.” 

Guy was half-way to the corner when he heard this 
cry behind him, and turning, he saw the servant from 
Miss Stanwix’s running toward him with a visiting 
card in her hand. 

“A young gentleman left this,” she panted out, 
“ the day after you went away. Miss Stanwix forgot 
about it till just this minute.” 

“Thank you.” 

Guy took the card with considerable curiosity, and 
saw that it belonged to Bert Arlington. On it were 
penciled these lines : 

“ They sent me here from the restaurant If ever 
you get this come and see me at the Jura.” 

“There's a friend for you,” reflected Guy, as he 
put the card carefully away in his pocket, “ to chase 
me up in this persistent manner. I’ll go and call on 
the boy this very evening. Perhaps he can give me 
some good advice.” 

It was wonderful what magical effect this little 
gleam of hope in his sky had upon the poor fellow's 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


133 

spirits. It takes such a very little effort from a brothers 
hand to rouse us out of the slough of despond. If all 
did but realize this, these friendly services would be 
more common than they are. 

The rest of the afternoon Guy spent in watching 
the driving on Fifth Avenue as he strolled up toward 
Central Park and back. And as he looked on at the 
gay procession he could not but recall the time when, 
during the Easter holidays, he had hired a dog-cart 
and taken his mother up through the Park to Kings- 
bridge and back. He recalled, too, how on that oc- 
casion, at one of the street crossings, he had been 
obliged to hold up his horse suddenly to avoid run- 
ning over a young fellow of about his own age, who 
had started to cross the street at the last minute. The 
boy had looked up at him, seated aloft in his gay 
turnout, and even in the one instant that their eyes 
met Guy had detected the envious longing in the 
other’s glance. 

“Why, there he is now I ** 

Guy involuntarily uttered these words aloud as he 
saw the same boy. He could not mistake the light 
curling hair, drab overcoat and the intensely blue 
eyes. But what a complete reversal of their posi- 
tions I 

The fellow was driving a T-cart this afternoon 
with a beautiful girl on the seat beside him and a 
solemn-visaged groom, with arms crossed, behind. 

“Well, that is typical of the ups and downs in 
American life with a vengeance I ” thought Guy, as 
the team passed him, and then he seemed to lose his 
interest in the imposing cavalcade, and leaving Fifth 


134 guy hammersley. 

Avenue, sauntered slowly back to his hotel alon^ the 
quieter streets. 

He ordered an early dinner, for he feared to miss 
Arlington unless he called soon after seven. In fact, 
it wanted five minutes to that hour when Guy entered 
the lofty building in Thirty-Third Street devoted to 
bachelor apartments. 

Yes, I guess you'll find him upstairs," the man 
in the elevator said in answer to his inquiry. ** He 
came in about ten minutes ago, and I haven't seen 
him go out since." 

Guy got out at the fourth floor, pressed an electric 
button beside the door pointed out to him, and half 
a minute later found himself confronted by Arlington 
himself. 

“Good for you, Guy," the latter exclaimed, insist- 
ing upon shaking both hands at once as he pulled 
his friend inside. “I’m no end glad to see you. 1 
was just beginning to get lonesome." 

“Why, that’s queer," exclaimed Guy, as he gazed 
around at the comfortably furnished rooms, for there 
were two of them, separated by portieres, and the 
windows looked out on two busy thoroughfares which 
crossed one another at this point “ I had an idea 
that you would never get that, knowing as many 
people as you do in New York." 

“That's the very reason I'm so glad to see you 
to-night, old fellow," returned Arlington, as he dis- 
posed of Guy’s hat and coat “ You see I'm going 
to be perfectly frank with you. I was booked for a 
bowling party to-night, but there's been an unexpected 
death in the family of one of the members of the 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


club, and the thing is off for two weeks. I hadn't 
made any other provision for the evening, of course, 
it was too late to do it after I got the telegram, which 
I found here ten minutes ago when I came in from 
dinner, you can’t very well call on a girl Saturday 
night, I hate to go to the theater alone, and now 
you’re here, I’m going to take you with me.” 

“But ” 

“ No huts unless you have a previous engagement 
We’ll walk down three blocks and hear De Wolf 
Hopper. Meantime I’ll step out to the elevator arid 
have my seats ordered and then come back to hear an 
account of yourself and doings. ” 

Guy found it very pleasant to be taken possession 
of in this summary fashion, and when Bert returned, 
determined to satisfy his curiosity by giving a com- 
plete account of his adventures since he had seen 
him that noon in the early part of the week at Fox & 
Burdell’s. 

“Well, you hceve been through a lot in two weeks 
and no mistake,” was Arlington’s exclamation, when 
the narrative was concluded. “And now you’re on 
the scent for a posish?” he added, as he slipped into 
the adjoining room to brush his hair. 

“ I am, very much so,” answered Guy. “ Do you 
happen to know of anything I could get ? ” 

“Well rather,” rejoined Bert, coming out, brush 
and comb in hand. “ You’re the very fellow, I take 
it, we want in our office. ” 

“ Your office ? ” echoed Guy in delighted surprise. 
“ Where are you and in what line ? You haven’t told 
me anything about yourself yet.” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


136 

“All right, ril make up for it now, on our way to 
the theater. I've a good excuse for not having said 
much about it to you when I saw you before. I 
hadn’t gone in it myself then. You see it's a new 
business just started by two fellows, both of them 
pretty young, friends of father’s. It is real estate, 
renting houses, offices and all that, and our office 
isn’t very far from here, around on Fifth Avenue. 
Business has come in with such a rush — both Mr. 
Kenworthy and Mr. Clarke are New York men and 
have hosts of friends here — that we are short-handed, 
and only this afternoon, just as I was coming away, 
Mr. Ken worthy asked me if I knew of a young fellow 
I could get in to assist You see there’s only himself, 
Clarke, the bookkeeper, the office boy and I now.” 

“And do you think I would suit?” asked Guy, 
eagerly, thinking the news almost too good to be 
true. 

“ I don’t see why you shouldn’t You’re a good 
appearing fellow — now don’t blush. I’m merely talk- 
ing business — dress well, can talk easily and 

“But what have all these qualifications got to do 
with fitting me for a place in your office? ” Guy 
wanted to know. 

“A great deal. A good many of our customers 
are ladies, and they do not forget if they are waited 
on politely at a certain office, and in an off-hand, 
careless way in others. Then we often have to go 
with them to show houses, and sometimes three or 
four of us will be out at once, and then there’s no 
one in the office that knows about things if anybody 
comes in. Oh, no fear but I can get you in, so make 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


*37 

your mind easy and settle down to a good enjoyment 
of the opera.” 

And Guy did enjoy that opera ; and after it was 
over Bert took him to Delmonico's and then home to 
spend the night with him ; and before church time 
next morning the second problem — that of lodgment 
— was settled for him most delightfully. 

“Look here, Guy,” said Bert, as they sat over their 
breakfast in the restaurant across the avenue from the 
Jura, “ what’s the reason we can’t keep this thing up 
indefinitely ? ” 

“What thing?” queried Guy, looking from the 
chops to the oatmeal dish and then up in his friend's 
face. 

“ Why, this thing of chumming it, to be sure. We 
used to get along at it all right at school, and I’m sure 
I’m having a good time now, so if you’re willing I’d 
be delighted to have you chip in with me and go 
shares on my rooms at the Jura.’' 

Guy drew a long breath. 

“ It would be just too—’' 

“Yes, just ‘ too, too,' so say I,” laughed Bert 

“But I couldn’t afford such style,” added Guy. 

“ How do you know how much you can afford till 
you know how much Kenworthy & Clarke will give 
you?” interposed Bert “Now listen. I’m sure 
they will start you on ten dollars a week, and raise 
you if you work well into the business. Now my 
rooms average me about that a week, but as I really 
expected to pay the whole of it — or rather father did 
for me — you see it will be money in my pocket if 
you’ll pay me three a week. We can divvy on the 


GUY HAMMERSLBY. 


138 

cost of our meals — it always comes cheaper for two— 
and 90 you ought to come out all right What do 
you say to the idea ? 

“Oh, Fdsay yes every time. The question is, 
will the thing work smoothly in practice ? Vm afraid 
it will be imposing on you and— and — perhaps living 
beyond my means. I might find a boarding-house 
where 1 could get everything for seven dollars a 
week.” 

“ The very thing ! Til take you to board for that,” 
exclaimed l^rt “Then there'll be no bothering 
about shares and all that and youll know just how 
much you’ll have for spending money every week. 
Now don't object It suits me to do it and will 
really be a favor, for I was getting most terribly 
lonesome, eating and living alone. Now on our way 
back ni take you past Kenworthy & Clarke's and 
show you what a swell ofhce we have.” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


*39 


CHAPTER XXI. 

BEARING ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS. 

©UT did not leave Arlington until late that evening, 
when he went back to the Grand Union to get the 
things he had left there. They had gone to church 
together, taken a long walk in the afternoon, and 
altogether Bert had given his friend a splendid time. 

And yet, in spite of all, when Guy was by himself 
with an opportunity to think calmly over the develop- 
ment of events, he was not as contented in mind as 
ke felt he should be. 

** It does seem as if I was imposing on Bert to 
stay with him and enjoy all these privileges for only 
seven dollars a week. And yet, I cannot doubt that 
he is sincere in wanting me to do it 

For Guy had finally accepted the offer on two con- 
ditions : one that Kenworthy & Clarke engaged him 
at a salary of not less than ten dollars, and the other 
that a formal renewal of the arrangement should be 
made every Monday, in order to give Arlington an 
opportunity to cancel the privilege if he found it not 
so pleasant a one as he had anticipated. 

“ Yes, ril consent to that," he had said, laughingly ; 
‘*it's no more than fair to you, for you may be the 
first one to want to draw out" 


140 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


There was certainly a bond of sympathy between 
the two, for Bert’s father was in the army, his mother 
was dead, and he had but few living relatives. Hence, 
Guy could readily understand that he might at times 
feel lonely, no matter how much his father’s money 
could do for him. 

Monday at nine o’clock the two repaired to the 
offices of Ken worthy & Clarke, which Guy found to 
be fitted up more like the private apartments of a 
millionaire than the counting-rooms of a business 
firm. Everything was in hard-wood finish, there 
were expensive rugs strewn about the floors, while 
electric lights, paintings on the walls and a frescoed 
ceiling added to the completeness of the establish- 
ment. 

“There’s an extra desk yonder you can have,” 
said Bert, as he pushed back the top of his own. 
“ Now sit down by me a few minutes till Mr. Ken- 
worthy comes in. Then I'll introduce you. Here 
he is now.” 

A young man of about twenty-eight entered, tall, 
fine-looking and dressed as if for an afternoon prom- 
enade on the avenue. Guy was presented as a 
particular friend and old schoolmate of Arlington’s. 
Mr. Kenworthy took him into his private office, and 
after a brief talk engaged him on the terms men- 
tioned by Bert. 

“Arlington will instruct you in your duties,” said 
the senior partner in dismissing him, “and I think, 
judging from your looks and manner, that you will 
prove an apt pupil” 

So it turned out. The business called for just 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


141 


those qualities which Guy possessed in an eminent 
degree, and he very soon got into the swing of it," 
as Bert expressed it It was exceedingly pleasant 
work too, for escorting parties through houses to 
show off the premises broke the monotony of the 
day, and was the means of making Guy acquainted, 
even though it might be but for a brief hour, with 
some very agreeable people. Altogether it seemed 
as if our hero's evil star had sunk below the horizon 
and for a week or two there was nothing to molest 
him but news from the West 

This came from two sources, his mother and Ward 
Farleigh. The former had now her boy with her, as 
her proofs had been sufficient to convince Judge 
Dodge that she had the best claim upon him. Mrs. 
Hammersley was enraptured of course to regain pos- 
session of her son, but wrote that she felt grieved 
that she was compelled to take him away from such 
a luxurious home as he had had with the judge to 
offer him only the meager substitute of life upon the 
road. 

“And Heaven alone knows how long I maybe 
able to depend upon this,” she wrote. “ Things are 
going from bad to worse with the Starr Concert 
Company. The audiences seem large enough, but 
one time it is a papered house, another a thieving 
treasurer, and the latest a flooding with counterfeit 
money. Any way, whatever the reason, my eighth, 
as well as Miss Farleigh’s, amounts to but three dol- 
lars or sometimes not that, for each performance. 
We have protested, and Ward has even threatened to 
leave, but it does no good. Law is expensive and 


GUY HAMMERS LEY, 


142 

we have no other redress. The future indeed looks 
dark to me.” 

Guy was greatly distressed by this letter, and never 
wished for wealth so earnestly as he did at the mo- 
ment of reading it. What inexpressible joy it would 
have been to him to be able to write : “ Bring Harold 
and come on to New York. I will care for you 
both.” 

As it was, he could not even have the satisfaction 
of inclosing a few dollars with his reply. And yet 
he was, so to speak, living in luxury himself. 

Ward’s letters were made up principally of maledic- 
tions on Colonel Starr, who was “ cheating them all 
out of their eye teeth,” he wrote. “ I’m trying to get 
Ruth and your mother to join me in a strike,” he 
added. “ We now compose the entire company, you 
know, and should we fail to appear there could of 
course be no concert. But Ruth and Mrs. Hammers- 
ley insist that as the colonel has always paid them 
something they cannot plead that he has broken his 
contract, and that, unless we can prove that he has 
misappropriated the funds, we can have no case 
against him. He is now trying to make an infant 
phenomenon out of that new young brother of yours. 
Found out he knew whole pages of ‘Fauntleroy’ by 
heart. The boy takes very kindly to the notion. I 
don’t know whether his mother knows about it or 
not.” 

Three days later Guy was keeping office during a 
busy afternoon, when Bert and the two partners were 
all out showing houses. He had just finished dic- 
tating a letter to the typewriter when the street door 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


143 

Opened and in filed a procession that utterly as- 
tounded him. 

First came Mrs. Hammersley, and with her Harold, 
then, Ruth Farleigh and Ward. 

“ We called to see if you could show us some flats,” 
laugfhed the latter. 

Mrs. Hammersley explained matters in a few words. 
The Starr Concert Company had collapsed, the gal- 
lant colonel had fled to parts unknown, and the 
members of the company found themselves left with 
but very little over what would pay their expenses 
back to New York. 

“We thought this was the best place to come to,” 
added Ruth. “Ward and I will be near a steamer 
when we have saved up money enough to pay our 
passage, and then your mother wanted to be near 
^you.” 

“And we're really in earnest about the flat,” con- 
tinued Ward. “You see we’ve decided that it would 
be cheaper for us all to live together in this way than 
to board. Now do you know of any furnished flat 
we can get for about $25 a month ? ” 

Poor Guy was overwhelmed. His stepmother 
looked wan and careworn, and when he thought of 
the luxuries that had once been hers and contrasted 
that period with the present when she arrived in New 
York almost penniless and with a little boy dependent 
on her, he grew sick at heart to think of his own 
helplessness. But on one thing he resolved upon 
the instant ; he would leave his luxurious quarters at 
the Jura and cast in his lot with the others. His sal- 
ary of ten dollars a week would be a material help. 


144 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


‘ ‘ I think it would be better if you came over to 
see us this evening, Guy,’^ said Mrs. Hammersley, 
‘‘and then we could discuss matters more fully.” 

Guy himself thought this the better plan and 
arranged to call as soon as business would permit. 
He thought of how vexed Bert would be when in- 
formed of his intentions and was, therefore, much 
comforted to receive his friend’s expressions of 
hearty sympathy and assurance ‘‘that whatever 
came up, he would stand by him.” 


QUY HAMMEIiSLEY^ 


*45 


CHAPTER XXII. 

A DARK OUTLOOK. 

After dinner that night, what Ward called a 
** committee of the whole ” met in his room to con- 
sider ways and means. 

“ Particularly means,'’ he added, jingling a few 
loose coins in his pockets suggestively. It was a 
characteristic of this frank, good-natured English lad 
to be always in buoyant spirits, no matter how dismal 
the outlook. So now he endeavored to gild the sore 
straits in which they found themselves with the 
brightness of a little fun. 

“ Well, then,” began Guy, “in the first place you 
can count on my ten a week. IVe seen Bert and 
arranged with him to leave as soon as we can find a 
flat. And now what is the utmost we can afford to 
pay for an apartment ? ” 

“ That will depend on the size of it,” rejoined 
Ruth. “ How small a one can we get along with, 
do you think, Mrs. Hammersley ? ” 

“Not less than four rooms, surely,” was the 
reply. “You see there are five of us. One room 
must be kitchen, the other we can use for both par- 


14(5 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


lor and dining-room. Guy and your brother can 
occupy one bedroom, where we can have a cot for 
Harold, and you and I can take the other. How do 
you like the arrangement ? ” 

“ First class,” exclaimed Ward. Reminds me 
of that trick in cards where the landlady has seven 
rooms and eight travelers to provide for. But 
we can get along in the way Mrs. Hammersley 
has mapped out admirably unless company insists 
on staying till it is time to set the table for dinner, 
when of course they’ll see it, and we’ll have to 
ask ’em to stay when perhaps we can’t afford it But 
ROW we’ve got our specification as to space, let Guy 
here, the young real estate king, tell us how much 
we ought to pay for it ” 

“ Well, for a furnished flat of that size, in anything 
that isn’t a tenement house, we’ll have to give not 
less than twenty-five dollars a month, and more likely 
it will be thirty or thirty-five. Any way, you can 
reckon on my forty dollars covering that” 

“ But we’re not going to let you pay all the rent,” 
cried Ruth and Ward in a breath. “ It wouldn’t be 
fair.” 

** Certainly it would,” replied Guy. “ I don’t see 
why not, if the rest of you have to pay for the pro- 
visions, coal, washing and gas. You’ll find that 
these will mount up to more than forty a month 
rather than less.” 

Even Ward looked a little blank on hearing this. 
Where was the other forty to come from, he could 
Kiot help wondering ? 

Now we must take an account of assets, do they 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


147 


call it ? ” proposed Ruth, and, suiting^ the action t® 
the word, she drew her purse from her pocket and 
proceeded to reckon up how much she had in it 

Fourteen dollars and thirty-nine cents was the re- 
sult. Ward’s pockets turned out twenty, and Mrs. 
Hammersley found that she could contribute thirty 
one dollars to the general fund, while Harold in- 
sisted on adding the gold eagle that Judge Dodge 
had given him as a parting gift when he left Brilling. 

“That makes $75.39 cash in hand,” announced 
Guy, who had been busy with pencil and paper. 
“Guess we won't need your eagle, after all, Harry. 
You’d better save it up for a still rainier day.” 

“Do you suppose we can get into a place some 
time to-morrow?” Ruth wanted to know. “Our 
bill at the hotel will eat a hole in our resources, you 
must remember. ” 

“I’ll do my best,” answered Guy. “And one 
thing we must take into account : the month’s rent 
will have to be paid in advance. I forgot about that 
when I undertook to attend to that part of it. I’m 
running only about a dollar or two ahead of ex- 
penses, you know. But I’ll save up for the second 
month, and be all right after that. Now, mother, 
have you any idea how much we’ll need for living 
expenses ? ” 

“Well, I don’t see how five people can get along 
on less than fifty dollars a month, ten dollars 
apiece. ” 

“There, I knew you’d w’ant my eagle,” put in 
Harold, who was looking over Guy’s shoulder while 
the latter figured. “ If you allowed thirty dollars 


148 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


for the rent, you'd have only thirty-five left for the 
rest." 

“But there’s Guy’s forty, my dear," interposed 
Mrs. Hammersley. 

“Yes, but he’s got to save that up for the second 
month’s rent," rejoined the boy, and with a little air 
of triumph he plumped the gold coin on the table 
again. 

“That will give us only forty-five," remarked Guy, 
adding immediately, however : “But then all of my 
forty will not be needed for rent, so you see we 
will come out all right, after all." 

It was then arranged that Ward should call around 
at Kenworthy & Clarke’s the next morning to ascer- 
tain the result of Guy’s interview on flats with Mr. 
Clarke The party then separated for the night, Guy 
returning to the Jura feeling as though he were a 
married man weighed down by the cares of a large 
family. 

On applying to the junior partner the next day, he 
was given by Mr. Clarke a note to a friend of his who 
made a specialty of small apartments, and when 
Ward arrived the two went off to obtain a batch of 
permits. But they found that the choice among fur- 
nished flats was exceedingly small ; indeed, when 
the question of price was taken into account, there 
wasn’t any choice left, a thirty dollar suite of four 
rooms on the top floor, in Harlem, being the only 
item that filled their bill. 

“Well, I suppose there’s nothing for it but to get 
the others and go up and see it," said Ward, which 
was accordingly done. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


149 

The ladies groaned in spirit on the threshold when 
they beheld the narrowness and steepness of the stairs, 
but the rooms were sunny, and, although the furni- 
ture was plain, everything was neat and clean. 
They had been occupied by a Southern gentleman 
and his wife. He had been ordered South for his 
health, and they were anxious to start as soon as pos- 
sible, and readily acquiesced in Mrs. Hammersley's 
wish to move in at once. 

So the thirty dollars was paid over, a cot purchased 
for Harold — the rooms were large, so that there was 
plenty of space for it in Guy’s and Ward’s apartment, 
and it could be folded up and placed under the bed 
in daytime — and by six o’clock that night ‘‘the as- 
sorted family,” as Ward dubbed them, were estab- 
lished in their new quarters. 

They were very merry that first night. Ruth could 
cook as well as she could play the violin, and 
Harold greatly enjoyed shopping for dinner and 
breakfast with his mother. Mrs. Maddern, the for- 
mer tenant, had left her piano, and when the dishes 
were washed and put away, Ruth got out her violin, 
and with Ward for accompanist and Mrs. Ham- 
mersley as prima donna, they gave a little impromptu 
concert for their house warming. 

It was certainly very cozy when you once got in- 
side. There were rugs on the floors, which had been 
stained a dark red, and some good engravings on the 
walls, while a general supply of books scattered 
about gave an air of refinement and culture to the 
rooms. 

Mrs. Maddern had been forced to leave behind her 


150 


CUY HAMMERSLEY. 


a great yellow cat, which boasted the grandiloquent 
name of Emperor, and with him Harold soon made 
friends, and when he discovered that the cat would 
jump over his hands, the boy’s content seemed com- 
plete. 

But with the others it was different. They might 
laugh and joke, and declare that they were in great 
luck to secure such pleasant quarters, but beneath it 
all there was an undercurrent of doubt that was like 
the worm in the bud. Ward was the first to put the 
dark side of the picture into words. 

It was long after they had retired, when, noticing 
a restless motion of Guy’s, he ventured to whisper : 
say, Hammersley, aren’t you asleep either?” 

“No; I’ve been wondering whether you were,” 
was the reply. 

“ The boy’s off, isn’t he ? ” 

“ Long ago. I’ve been thinking.” 

“ About next month ? " 

“Yes.” 

“So have I. ’Tisn’t a particularly cheerful out- 
look, ’specially for me. What if I don’t succeed in 
finding anything to do ? ” 

“ Oh, but you will. What are you up in particu- 
larly in the business line ? ” 

“Nothing; that’s the trouble. I left school to 
come out here with Ruth, you know. Besides, even 
supposing I get a place, I surely can’t expect the 
good fortune you’ve had, and will be lucky to be 
paid five dollars a week. Multiply that by four, and 
you have twenty dollars a month for living expenses. 
Aimount wanted : fifty.” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


“ But you must remember that there'd be ten left 
from my income.” 

“ Yes ; but that will still leave a gap of twenty to 
be filled. Besides, I haven't got my situation at five 
a week yet, and maybe I won't ever have it Ruth 
has great hopes of getting something to do, but it is 
so late in the season now I'm afraid there's not much 
show for her in the concert line, and I've put my 
foot down on her going into a store. Then, you 
must remember, our clothes won't last forever, and 
we haven't counted the cost of these in our estimates 
at all.” 

Guy was obliged to admit that they had not, and 
then there was silence in the apartment, broken only 
by the regular breathing of Harold, who was sleep- 
ing peacefully, while his older room-mates were both 
lying there wide-eyed over the problem of existence. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


152 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

WARD ATTEMPTS JOKE MAKING. 

During a good part of the next day Guy’s thoughts 
were more distracted than they should have been 
perhaps from his work. He was kept constantly 
wondering what success the other members of the 
little household in Harlem would meet with in their 
quest for employment For his mother had decided 
to call on Dr. Pendleton, taking Ruth with her, while 
Ward was to answer certain advertisements he had 
cut out of the morning paper. It may be believed, 
therefore, that when the young real estate clerk took 
the elevated train home at five o'clock, he was pos- 
sessed of a feverish impatience to hear the result of 
their efforts. 

Two steps at a time he ascended the long flights of 
stairway, eager to burst into the cosy apartment with 
a cry of “ Well, what cheer? ” But on the top landing 
stood Harold, one finger laid across his lips, while 
with the other hand he motioned for his half-brother 
to tread lightly. 

“Why, what's the matter?” whispered Guy, his 
heart fairly springing into his throat. 

^It’s mamma,” replied the boy. “ She was taken 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


153 

sick this morning soon after you went away. I 
couldn’t go to school because I had to run out and 
hunt up a doctor, and then go off to the drug store 
two or three times. Miss Farleigh has had to be 
with her all day.” 

Guy hurried in and met Ruth in the parlor. She 
looked wan and anxious. 

“ The doctor says it is a general break down of the 
system,” she answered in response to Guy’s eager 
questionings. “ She must have careful nursing and 
the most nourishing diet Yes, you can see her.” 

When Guy came back to the parlor, which had 
now become the dining-room, for Harold had begun 
to set the table, he found Ward there. One glance at his 
face was sufficient to show that his day’s quest had 
been a fruitless one. While they were eating dinner 
he told in lowered tones his experiences. 

“ In the first place,” he began, ** almost every 
place I went to had already engaged a boy, and 
others that hadn’t when they found out that I was a 
stranger in New York, said I wouldn’t do at once. 
By that time I had got down to the bottom of my list, 
where I had put the doubtful ads, those that promised 
big profits for little work, and which, as I suspected, 
turned out in every case to be baits for book agents. 
As I haven’t had myself padded against assaults from 
American boots, I said I’d think about it, and got out 
as quick as I could.” 

Ward tried to make light of his failure for the sake 
of the others, asserting that he meant to work on 
different lines on the morrow. 

“You ought to get a Sunday paper if you want 


154 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


a long list of advertisements to select from, ” suggested 
Harold. I found one the Madderns left here. 
Would you like to see it ? ” 

Yes, trot it out. The more the merrier.** 

So Harold brought the paper, but none noticed at 
the time that one particular sheet he separated from 
the rest, folded it up and stuffed it into his pocket 
Ward took the paper and immediately became ab- 
sorbed in its perusal. But Guy remarked that he was 
not reading the “Help Wanted — Male” pages, and 
was therefore considerably surprised when the British 
youth suddenly brought one hand down on the table 
with an emphatic slap and exclaimed : “ I’ve got it 
That’s the easiest way to make money I’ve heard of 
yet I ” 

“Hush, my dear brub, not so loud,” cautioned 
Ruth, with a glance toward the sick chamber. Then 
she added : “ What is that easy way of making a 
fortune you have discovered ? ’* 

“Writing jokes for the comic papers.” answered 
Ward. ' ‘ Here’s an article telling all about it And only 
think ! For just a little bit of a dialogue of two lines 
sometimes, a man gets a dollar. It can’t take more 
than five minutes at the most to scribble off one ot 
these. Now in a working day of eight hours there 
are— I say, Harold, you’re just fresh from school, 
how many five minutes are there in that length of 
time ? ” 

“ Ninety-six,” answered Harold, after an instant of 
mental calculation. 

“Good,” went on the enthusiastic Ward, his face 
flushing with the inspiration of hope. “ A dollar 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


155 


apiece for the product of each of these would be ” 

He hesitated for an instant, and then Guy added, 
with a little laugh : “ Ninety-six dollars a day. At 
that rate I wonder why some Wall Street brokers don’t 
change their business. They would certainly get rich 
faster than a great many of them do now.” 

*‘Oh, of course I don't suppose one could think of 
a new joke every five minutes in the day,” rejoined 
Ward, looking a trifle silly as he realized to what 
lengths his enthusiasm had carried him “ I just 
wanted to show you what possibilities there were in 
the scheme. I think I’ll begin to-night, so I’ll have 
something to fall back on in case I don’t succeed in 
getting a regular place to-morrow. Of course tramp- 
ing about all day trying to get a situation isn’t just 
the best sort of preparation to set the mind in trim to 
reel off funny things, but then I don’t want to get in 
the habit of waiting for moods to write. I wonder if 
I can find any paper to write on in this establish- 
ment ? ” 

Harold brought him some, and while Guy picked 
wp the advertising sheet of the journal he had cast 
aside. Ward took out his lead pencil, and, propping 
his head on his arms, which rested on the table, 
wrinkled his brow and looked terribly serious in the 
effort to be funny. One, two, three minutes passed, 
and still he remained in the same position, with not 
one word as the result of his deeply severe thinking. 

A quarter of an hour later Ruth, who had gone in 
to see if Mrs. Hammersley wanted anything, re- 
turned, and, looking over her brother’s shoulder, 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


156 

said, in her cheerful way : “ Well, Ward, how many 
jokes have you reeled off by this time ? ” 

“ None, ’'the boy was compelled to answer, adding, 
honestly : ‘‘It isn’t quite as easy as I thought it was. 
But I don’t believe I set to work the right way. 
Most of the jokes are about common, every-day things 
and happenings, so perhaps I’d get along faster if, 
instead of trying to concentrate my thoughts on the 
gray matter in my brain and look at nothing, I just 
sat quietly and gazed about the room till my eye 
lighted on something to which I could hang a joke.” 

Suiting the action to the word. Ward transferred 
his glances from the ceiling to the various objects 
around the apartment Suddenly they rested on 
puss, asleep at Harold’s feet, and instantly the joke 
maker’s lips began to move noiselessly. It was evi- 
dent he had hit on an idea, and was struggling to give 
it expression. 

“ It doesn’t fit as pat as I hope to make it after 
a little polishing,” he said, when he had scribbled a 
few lines on the sheet of paper that had for so long 
remained ominously white ; “ but tell me what you 
think of this,” and he read ; 

“ Why is a tabby asleep on a tree trunk like the 
list of publications sent out by a publishing house? 
Because it is a catalogue. ” 

The ambitious author looked up expectantly, but 
Guy said nothing, and Ruth had but the faintest 
shadow of a smile on her fair face as she said, gently : 
“ But that isn’t a joke, my dear Ward, it’s a conun- 
drum.” 

“ Well, what of that ? That makes it all the 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


157 

better, doesn't it ? Getting two things for the price 
of one, don't you see ? " 

But Ward did not speak in a very confident tone. 
It was evident that the cold reception accorded his 
first effort affected him considerably. 

** I told you I hadn't smoothed off the rough edges 
yet," he said, half apologetically. You see that ‘ a ' 
bothers me. It doesn't come in the way it ought 
to." 

It most certainly did not, and after twenty minutes' 
steady thinking in the effort to subjugate it, poor 
Ward was forced to give up the attempt in despair, 
and with it all hope of utilizing Emperor as the text 
for his initial essay in the field of comic literature. 

** But everything requires practice," he tried to en- 
courage himself by reflecting. ** I got pretty near it 
that time. The next trial ought to end in success.” 

For the second attempt, he got up and began to 
walk up and down the little room, allowing his 
eyes to rove in every nook and corner of it. 

“ Surely I ought to find something funny in a flat," 
he mused. ** The papers have been full of squibs 
about them for years." 

But that was the trouble of it Every good idea 
on which he struck, he found, on second thought, to 
be the reminiscence of some bright bit he had already 
read in the papers, and after half an hour’s further 
trial, he threw down his pencil in disgust and went 
off to bed, thoroughly worn out, not to say dis- 
couraged. 


158 


QUY HAMMERSLEY. 


CHAPTER XXIV 

A STRANGE NIGHT ADVENTURE. 

A WEEK went by. Mrs. Hammersley grew n® 
better, and still required constant attendance, so that 
Ruth could not think of seeking an opening for 
teaching. Besides, there was no one but herself to 
see after the housekeeping. Ward had walked the 
streets day after day in search of work, and finally 
succeeded in finding a job in a drug store which 
brought him in but four dollars a week and required 
him to work for it fourteen hours a day. But he was 
so discouraged with his weary quest, that he readily 
closed with this offer and was fain to consider him- 
self lucky to get even that 

Meanwhile the finances of the little household 
were being steadily depleted. The doctor was a 
stranger and must be paid promptly, while the same 
was the case with the medicines, even though they 
came from Beman & Bawn's, where Ward was em- 
ployed. 

Already a portion of Guy's income had been en- 
croached upon instead of being rigorously set aside 
for rent day, now less than three weeks distant 
What they were going to do poor Guy could not 
conceive. He was certainly doing his part, as a 
salary of ten dollars a week was undeniably a good 


GUY HAMMERSLE Y, 


159 

one for a boy of seventeen, but then it did not go a 
great way toward supporting five persons. 

Night and day poor Guy studied over the problem, 
but could find no solution, unless indeed a visit to a 
shop under the sign of the three balls might serve to 
give them a temporary lift But every time this 
thought occurred to him a shudder passed through 
his frame. 

Every fine night he took long walks. He could 
think more clearly then, it seemed to him. Besides, 
he needed the exercise ; then he could stop for Ward 
on the way home, for the poor fellow did not get off 
till eleven. So after dinner he sat by his mother’s 
bedside till she fell asleep, then putting on his hat 
and coat and leaving Ruth and Harold busy over 
some book they were reading together, he would go 
out for a long walk down towards the heart of the 
city. 

One Monday evening Mrs. Hammersley fell asleep 
while they were at dinner, so Guy started out at 
seven. By eight he reached the theater district, and 
just as he was approaching one of the larger houses 
a carriage, with coachman and footman on the box, 
drew up before the entrance. The footman sprang 
down to open the door, and quite a young couple 
alighted. By the glare of the electric light Guy rec- 
ognized the fellow he had seen twice before on Fifth 
Avenue, once walking and the second time driving 
in style. 

Now, as he saw him by the side of a young girl 
in evening dress, both talking animatedly of the 
evening’s enjoyment before them, Guy was irresist- 


l6o GUY HAMMERSLEY. 

ibly reminded of similar episodes in his own life, 
and for one instant he changed his course and took 
two steps behind the two, trying to imagine for the 
moment that his happy past was back again, and 
that he too had come in a brougham to the play- 
house with a fair young companion at his side. 

But it was only two steps he took. His hard, 
practical sense quickly usurped the place of sentiment, 
and in another second he had turned on his heel and 
was taking great strides toward Madison Square, as 
if eager to put his weakness as far behind him as 
possible. 

He took a longer walk than usual, and when he 
passed that same theater on his way home again it 
was half-past ten. The play was not over yet, but 
just as he reached the entrance to the lobby a young 
man with his hat pulled down over his eyes and his 
coat collar turned up came out. As soon as he 
reached the sidewalk, out of the glare of the lights, 
he stopped, and leaning his head against the side of 
the building, groaned aloud. 

Thinking the man must have been taken ill and 
might be in need of assistance, Guy went up to him, 
and touching him on the shoulder, said kindly : 
“ Excuse me, but you seem to be in trouble. Can I 
do anything for you ? ” 

“Yes, if you would be so good as to put me out 
of existence, and thus do away with the necessity of 
my committing a crime to accomplish the same 
thing myself.” 

The man had turned on him suddenly, almost 
fiercely, and Guy saw that he was quite young, and 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 


l6l 

with a face of singular refinement. Then, while our 
hero was collecting his thoughts from the confusion 
to which they had been put by the unexpected 
response, the stranger went on in a softened tone : 

“ But I beg your pardon for breaking out in this 
way. I don’t mean it, believe me. You have a 
good face, and must possess a kind heart. If you 
will just let me walk with you a way, you can help 
me by listening to my ‘tale of woe,’ ” and the young 
man gave a mirthless laugh as he quoted the name 
of the popular song. 

‘ ‘ Certainly, ” replied Guy. “ I am going to walk 
all the way to Harlem and shall be glad of company 
part way.” 

But as he spoke he could not help wondering if he 
was not imprudent in thus allowing such a very 
singular stranger to force himself upon him. He 
might be a confidence man, who had taken this novel 
means of awakening sympathy. 

And yet Guy had nothing about him to lose. A 
dime or two in his pockets, that was all, for on these 
night walks he always left his watch at home. How- 
ever, the glimpse he had had of the young man’s face 
was enough to convince him of the fact that he was 
no bunco steerer. So the two, thrown together so 
oddly, started off up Broadway together, and the 
stranger, taking Guy’s arm, began, very frankly : 

“ It’s funny it should be so, and yet, simply because 
I never saw you before and do not even know your 
name, it is easier for me to open my heart to you than 
it would be to my most intimate friend. He is, in 
fact, the very one I most want to avoid. I’ve left 


i 62 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


tiirn, and all my other friends back there in the theater. 

I dare say they are wondering where I am and how 
I feel/^ and the fellow gave a short, bitter laugh as 
he threw a glance over his shoulder. 

“ I wonder if he can be mad?” was the thought 
that crossed Guy's mind at this juncture. But before 
be could come to a decision on this point his compan- 
ion made an announcement that put this possibility 
out of the question. 

You see I wrote the play that was produced at 
the Criterion to-night for the first time, and it was a 
dead failure. I could see that myself by the middle 
of the first act, but I stood it out till they were half 
through the fourth, then I cut stick. The place was 
jammed with all my friends who had come to see 
my triumph, and I positively couldn't face them after 
things had turned out the way they did. Indeed I 
feel as if I never wanted to see any one of them again. 
I had talked so much about it and let everybody 
suppose that it was going to have a tremendous run, 
that I just feel as if I wanted to transfer myself to 
some place where I shouldn't meet anybody who 
©Ter knew me.” 

* * Was it your first play ? ” Guy ventured to inquire 
as the other paused, and jabbed savagely with his 
silver-topped cane at some theater posters on a fence 
they were passing. 

'‘Yes, and my last,” came the prompt reply. “Of 
course I was lifted to the seventh heaven when it was 
accepted, and I can see now acted like an idiot by talk- 
ing to everybody I met about it, telling them how 
swimmingly the rehearsals were going and all that.” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


163 

**But it may not be as bad as you think,” Guy 
went on, really wishing that he could pour some 
balm on the wounded spirit of this sensitive soul. 
‘‘Perhaps the piece is already saved by the last 
act” 

“Oh, I know better than that, better than any one 
else can, how highly improbable that is. Why, it 
was so bad that the audience actually got to laugh- 
ing in the wrong places. Oh, it was fearful I got 
as far back in the box as I could and didn’t dare go 
out between the acts for fear of the talk about the 
‘frightful bore, don’t you know,’ I should hear in the 
lobby. I really don’t know what’s going to become 
of me.” 

“Then you had staked everything on the success 
of this play,” said Guy, who naturally just at present 
looked at all the evils that might befall mankind 
from a financial standpoint “ Will the loss be very 
heavy ? ” 

“Oh, I don’t care a penny about that My in- 
come can easily foot the bills. It’s the social side 
of the thing that just knocks me over. How can I 
go out in society again and hear people whispering 
to one another, ‘Oh, there goes Shepard. He was 
the fellow who wrote that play that failed so dismally 
at the Criterion ’ ? The only thing for me to do is to 
keep in the dark till I can find something else con- 
nected with the theater, other than play writing, in 
which I can interest myself. ” 

On hearing these words a project suddenly shaped 
itself in Guy’s mind that for an instant almost took 


1 64 


GUY ffAMMEJRSLEY, 


away his breath. It seemed so stupendous, so utterly 
out of the bounds of possibility. 

And yet, even though there was but a slender thread 
on which to hang a hope, ought he to let this oppor- 
tunity slip without putting out a hand to at least 
make an attempt at grasping it ? 


GUY JIAMMERSLEY, 


165 


CHAPTER XXV. 

MR. ARTHUR SHEPARD. 

Guy and his peculiar companion had by this time 
reached the neighborhood of Central Park, and the 
former had now learned that the other’s name was 
Arthur Shepard, that he was quite alone in the world 
so far as immediate family was concerned, although 
he had a host of relatives eager to fawn upon him 
by reason of the fortune his father had left him. 
Having a strong taste for the stage, he had taken up 
play writing, and, as he numbered among his large 
list of friends many actors and not a few managers, 
he had had no difficulty in getting his comedy ac- 
cepted. 

All this he told with the frankness of a child. 

‘^Somehow it comforts me,” he explained, *‘to be 
able to talk in confidence to a fellow I've never seen 
before. You see it can't do any harm ; he doesn’t 
know any of my friends, and he can't very well 
carry tales. I don’t know but gossip would lose 
all its sting if it were only carried on among total 
strangers. It would stop every time then, don't you 
see, with the first person who heard it ” 

Whether impelled to do so by these philosophic 
precepts, or influenced by the example set him, Guy 


i66 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


is not certain, but he soon found himself telling bits 
of his own life history to Mr. Shepard, and thus the 
way was paved for him to broach the matter upon 
which he felt so much might depend. 

“Mr. Shepard,*' he began suddenly, “you just 
now said you wished you knew of something be- 
sides play writing in which you could interest your- 
self. I wonder if you are not the very person a 
small half-brother of mine would like to meet” 

* ‘ What do you mean ? ” exclaimed the other ex- 
citedly. “Give me something now, at once, to fill 
my thoughts in place of this dreadful fiasco, and you 
will merit my lasting gratitude. You see, my dear 
boy, the penalty of being born rich. One has got to 
have a fad to furnish himself with occupation, and 
when one of these fails him — as mine has just done 
— he must straightway find another, or die of ennui 
Now tell me about this half-brother of yours.” 

“ Well, I only make bold to mention the matter at 
all,” began Guy, “because you have some connec- 
tion with the theater, and I think therefore that you 
might be able to take an interest in Harold's aspira- 
tions. He wants an opening to become an * infant 
phenomenon ; ' in short, to play * Fauntleroy' ! He 
knows the story by heart, and ever since he discov- 
ered an article in the paper telling how many chil- 
dren there were throughout the country playing the 
part of the little lord, and giving the amounts of the 
salary they received, he has been very anxious to get 
an opening somewhere, and do his share toward 
paying the family expenses.” 

“But has he really talent, do you think?” said 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 167 

Shepard, who was listening- with the mosi rapt atten« 
tion. 

‘*Miss Farleigh says he has. You see she is the 
only one to whom the boy has confided his ambi- 
tions, and it was only a day or two ago that she told 
me about them. She says that when they are alone 
together up there in the flat all day he reels off whole 
chapters of dialogue from the story. Now I notice 
that the manager of the Criterion has some of the 
rights for ‘Fauntleroy," so I thought you might at 
least bring Harold to his notice.” 

How old is the boy, did you say ? ” 

“Just ten.” 

“ Is he dark or light ?” 

“Light; a blonde, with blue eyes. Oh, he’s a 
regular Cedric Errol in looks.” 

“ Will you bring him down to my rooms in the 
Jura to-morrow night ? English will want something 
to take the place of my play right off, and if this boy 
turns out to be a real phenomenon, he can put 
‘ Fauntleroy ’ right on. If, as you say, he knows the 
words already. I’ll undertake to coach him for the 
part in a week’s time, and manage the tour for him. 
All this, of course, if he turns out what we both trust 
he will. I scarcely dare hope it, though. If you 
knew the number of children that have been brought 
to English since the Fauntleroy craze started, and 
had seen for yourself, as I have, how ill qualified 
they were for the part, you would understand what 
I mean when I say that I ‘ scarcely dare hope.’ You 
can come with him down to the Jura to-morrow night, 
can you ? You know where it is ?” 


I68 


GUY HAMMEJ^SLEY. 


“Oh, yes, I lived there myself once and have a 
friend there — Bert Arlington. Perhaps you know 
him?” 

“Arlington ! Of course I do, and a nice fellow he 
is. He can tell you about me, and convince you 
that I am all right, if you did find me butting my 
head against a brick wall like a Harlem goat. But 
I must leave you here. By the time I get back to 
my rooms everything will have quieted down, and I 
needn't meet anybody till morning, when I hope I 
shall have quieted down too, thanks to you. ” 

“To me ! ” exclaimed Guy in surprise. “ Why, I 
haven’t done anything to help you, 1 am sure.” 

“Why, yes, you have. You came up and spoke 
kindly to me when you didn’t know I had money. 
I tell you, we chaps who are afflicted with wealth 
appreciate little things like that. But good-night 
Here is my card. I shall expect you and the boy 
to-morrow night about eight ” 

He held out his hand, shook Guy’s heartily, then 
turned on his heel and strode rapidly back towards the 
heart of the town. 

“Well, of all the queer adventures I ever had, this 
is the oddest,” soliloquized Guy, as he quickened his 
own steps in order not to miss going home with Ward. 
“ I’ll ask Bert all about Shepard to-morrow. Maybe 
he’s a crank, and is putting on airs about his being so 
wealthy, and all that, although I don’t believe it of 
him. There’s that outspoken frankness about the 
fellow that impels me to trust him almost in spite of 
myself. Wonder what Ward will say to the affair?” 

He reached the drug store just as his friend was 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 169 

leaving, and at once told him the story of his strange 
encounter. 

** By Jove, the fellow had been drinking, hadn’t he ? ” 
exclaimed Ward, when Guy was about half through 
the recital. 

“ No, indeed, he hadn’t, or I’d have detected it, 
but wait till you hear the rest ; ” and Hammersley 
then went on to tell about Harold and the possibility of 
his finding an opening to act the star role in a popular 
play. 

“ Great Caesar, if that goes through, that ten-year 
older will be earning more money a week than you 
and I put together ! ” and Ward gave vent to a long, 
low whistle, which might mean either supreme satis- 
faction or the reverse. 

Well, I believe they get all the way from twenty 
to seven hundred dollars a week,” responded Guy. 

‘‘Seven hundred 1” ejaculated Ward. “Don’t be- 
lieve it, not to doubt you, Hammersley, but the news- 
paper in which you saw the statement But do you 
suppose his mother will let him act, if this manager 
says he will do ? ” 

“I think so, yes, if we do not say anything about 
it till we bring back a favorable report from Mr. Eng- 
lish. So be careful how you speak about the matter 
at home before we learn the decision.” 

The next day, as soon as he reached the office, Guy 
asked Arlington what he knew about Shepard. 

“Oh, you mean the fellow whose play failed so 
dismally at the Criterion last night I ” exclaimed Bert 
“ I was there myself, and a worse fiasco I have never 
seen, though the actors did their very best to save it 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


170 

I understand that English has already decided to take 
it off at the end of the week. But about this Arthur 
Shepard. Do you know him ? ” 

“ I have met him,” answered Guy, guardedly. He 
did not wish to say much about him till he had heard 
Arlington’s opinion of the man. 

Well, you found him a little queer, I’ll venture,” 
went on Bert “But he’s an awfully good-hearted 
chap, and I feel downright sorry for him. Still, he 
can easily afford to lose any money he’s sunk in the 
venture. He’s said to be worth three or four mil- 
lions. ” 

A customer coming in claimed Guy’s attention at 
this point, and nothing further was said on the subject 
But he had learned enough to convince him that Shep- 
ard was a gentleman, and when he went home that 
night he was in a more excitable frame of mind than 
he had been in since his mother had fallen on the 
stage at Brilling. 

Harold had not been told yet, but as soon as he 
had seen his mother that night, Guy called the boy 
into their bedroom and suggested that he had better 
put on his velvet suit 

“And perhaps Miss Farleigh has a red sash she 
will lend you,” he added. “Your overcoat will hide 
it while we are on the cars. ” 

* ‘ Oh, Guy, ” cried the boy, his eyes dilating. “Has 
she told you about it ? ” 

“Yes; and you are going with me to a manager 
to-night to see what you can do. Who knows but 
you will be the one to raise the fortunes of the family 
to the top notch ? ” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


17s 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

HAROLD APPEARS BEFORE THE MANAGER, 

Mr. Arthur Shepard's apartments at the Jura were 
luxurious in the extreme. The most expensive rugs 
covered the polished floors, while Japanese screens, 
oriental pottery and Egyptian relics were scattered 
about in boundless profusion. 

“It reminds me of Grandpa Dodge's," Harold 
whispered, as the servant ushered them into the 
drawing-room. 

“That shows the stuff the sturdy little chap is 
made of," reflected Guy. “Not one word of regret 
for the luxuries he has lost have I ever heard him 
utter." 

It was true. The boy seemed so entirely content 
at finding his mother that no invidious comparisons 
between his present mode of life and that which he 
had enjoyed for the previous four months appeared 
ever to occur to him. Even now, his remark con- 
cerning the similarity of the furnishings to those to 
which he had been accustomed in Brilling had no 
trace of regret in it. 

Mr. Shepard appeared at once in a velvet smoking 
jacket, and Guy noticed by the involuntary drawing 
in of his breath when his eye first fell on Harold that 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


172 

the impression produced by the appearance of the 
boy was a favorable one. 

Mr. English will be here in a moment,” he said, 
as he shook hands. Ah, here he is now,” and he 
went forward to greet a tall gentleman, with a close- 
shaven black beard and a searching way of looking 
at one through his eyeglasses that Guy thought must 
be particularly trying to Harold under the circum- 
stances. 

“This is the boy, then, is it? ” he said in a quick, 
business-like tone, when the introductions had been 
made. 

He walked up to Harold, put his hand on his head 
for an instant, and placed the latter against his vest, 
keeping an eye on a certain particular button as he 
did so. 

“ Height all right,” he commented. “ Good figure, 
too, and just the coloring for Fauntleroy. Now let's 
hear what you can do, young man. Here, Shepard, 
take him off into your bedroom yonder, as far away 
as you can get, and yet have him in sight. I want 
to see how his voice fills. You know the book 
pretty well, they tell me,” he went on, turning to 
Harold. “Crm you give us some of that talk of 
Cedric with his grandfather in the second act? ” 

“Yes, I know it all by heart,” answered Harold 
readily, looking straight up into Mr. English's eyes ; 
and as the boy walked off with Shepard, Guy heard 
the manager mutter : 

“ First class carriage. Doesn't hang his head and 
look silly when spoken to.” 

“Til do the grandfather act,” proposed Shepard 


GUY IIAMMERSLEY, 


173 


when they had reached the other room^ and hastily 
putting two chairs and a table in position, he an- 
nounced that all was ready for Harold to begin. 

So without any blushings or stammerings, or in- 
quiries of “Where?” the boy started oft at “Are you 
the earl ? ” and with only slight pauses for the grand- 
father's replies, which Shepard, not knowing the 
part, was obliged to fill in with dumb show, went on 
till he was interrupted by an outburst of hand clap- 
ping from Mr. English. 

“ That will do,” said the manager. “ If only you 
can escape stage fright you ought to get through first 
rate with a little coaching.” 

On hearing this, Harold's reserve gave way, and 
bounding across the floor he came rushing up to Mr. 
English and demanded, eagerly: “Oh, wull I, and 
will you really give me a chance to play the part? 
I — I thought it was too good to be true when Guy 
told me there was a little bit of a chance of it” 

“ Well, now we will talk it over a little with your 
brother here while you — ” Mr. English hesitated and 
glanced at Shepard, who promptly came to the rescue 
with a Japanese dish full of photographs and the sug- 
gestion : “ Here, Harold, take these over to the lamp 
yonder, and study up an attitude. They are pictures 
of various Fauntleroy boys and girls.” 

As soon as the boy had gone off, Mr. English 
addressed himself to Guy. 

“ Have you authority to make business arrange- 
ments for your brother? ” he began. “ I should like 
to put this thing through at once, so we can announce 
Fauntleroy for ne;ct Monday,” 


174 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


“No, I am afraid not finally,” answered Guy. 
“You see we have said nothing to his mother about 
all this as yet. She is ill and we did not wish to ex- 
cite her needlessly. Now that you have decided the 
boy will be apt to make a success, if you will make 
us an offer for his services, I will be glad to submit 
it to her and let you know the result at the earliest 
possible moment.” 

“I suppose by that you would like to know the 
salary I am willing to give him,” responded Mr. 
English, reflectively stroking his beard. “You see 
he is utterly untrained for the stage, although mani- 
festing a remarkable aptitude for it. Taking this 
fact into consideration I cannot consistently offer 
more than thirty dollars a week to begin with — and 
to continue, say, for a period of three months. Con- 
tract to be broken by either party only after two 
weeks’ notice. That is fair, isn’t it ? ” 

With a vivid recollection of the experience with 
Colonel Starr, Guy was bound to admit that it was, 
and promised to submit the offer to Mrs. Hammersley 
and report upon it the next morning at the theatre if 
possible when he came to business. 

“And if favorable,” said Mr. English, rising and 
drawing on his gloves, “as I trust it may be, bring 
the boy with you, and we will get him accustomed 

to the stage at once. Let me see, the name is 

“Harold, Harold Glenn,” returned Guy, for Mrs. 
Hammersley had preferred that the boy should retain 
his father’s name rather than take her present one. 

“Good, that will look well on the bills,” went on 
the manager, “which reminds me of another reason 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


175 

for haste in this matter. I must go back to the 
theater now as quickly as possible. Good-night, 
Shepard. Much obliged for your offices in this 
matter. Good-bye, Mr. Hammersley. Good-night, 
Harold.” 

Mr. English hurried off, and Guy and his brother 
were about to follow him, when Shepard announced 
that he couldn’t think of letting them go yet. He 
then got out the paraphernalia for some sleight-of- 
hand tricks, sent upstairs to Arlington to come down 
and help him, and the two then proceeded to 
thoroughly delight and mystify Harold till nine 
o’clock, when ice cream and cake was produced, 
after which Guy declared positively that it was time 
for little boys to be to bed. 

“I’ll be at the Criterion to-morrow when you get 
there, Hammersley,” said Shepard at parting, “ and 
will take charge of our young star while you are at 
the office. So you can tell his mother he will be well 
cared for.” 

“ But the costumes,” suggested Guy, the thought of 
them suddenly occurring to him. “ Shall we be ex- 
pected to provide them ? ” 

“Oh, no, I imagine not, under the present contract,” 
answered Shepard. “ I will speak to English about 
that in the morning, and let you know when you 
come. ” 

Harold said but little on the way home, but his eyes 
sparkled, and once or twice Guy saw his lips moving, 
showing that he was conning the lines of the familiar 
story. 

“When are you going to speak to mamma about 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


176 

it, Guy?” he asked, as they left the train at Ninety- 
Third Street. ** To-night ? ” 

‘*If she is awake, yes,” was the answer. 

The older lad was almost as excited over this sud- 
den prospect which had opened before them as was 
the younger. Thirty dollars a week ! Why, that 
would lift them entirely above all cause for worri- 
ment And yet, it seemed heartless to look on this 
sordid side, and to reflect that they were to owe their 
respite from grinding poverty to the ofiices of a boy 
of ten. 

Still, one glance at the radiant young face beside 
him was enough to prove convincingly the fact that 
the earning of this weekly wage would be pure and 
unalloyed delight, not toil. And in this frame of 
mind, Guy sought his mother’s chamber when they 
reached the flat. 

She was awake, and feeling easier, she said. 

“You have been out with Harold, Ruth tells me,” 
she began, when Guy came in. 

“Yes, mother, and I want to tell you all about it 
now ; ” and thinking it best that the subject should 
be approached gradually, Guy started in with an 
account of his adventure in front of the Criterion 
Theater the previous evening, and wound up with a 
report of Mr. English’s offer of an hour before. 

“And now all rests with you, mother,” he con- 
cluded. “ Harold is completely wrapped up in the 
idea, but I can see he loves the art for its own sake 
and not for any notoriety it may bring him, so that 
it cannot harm him. And I will undertake to go with 
him every night to the theater. And I believe it will 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


\77 

hasten your recovery if you have it to look forward 
to see him act. '' 

“ Do you, Guy ? Well, then, I will consent” 

And Guy hurried off to Harold with the good 
newSo 


1Y8 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

LONE POINT. 

It may readily be believed that the three boys found 
much to chat about that night before they finally fell 
asleep. 

^Talk about your fairy stories and tales from the 
‘Arabian Nights!’” said Ward. “The idea that a 
boy of ten should be able to earn three times as much 
money as a chap seven years older seems utterly 
preposterous.” 

Be this as it might, it was a most fascinating possi- 
bility to the person most intimately concerned, and Har- 
old woke up the next morning in such boimdless good 
spirits that he roused his two companions by opening 
hostilities in a pillow fight. He calmed down, however, 
when he reached the theater with Guy, and became very 
business-like. 

Shepard was there to receive them and took the boy 
off at once to a tailor’s to have him measured for his 
suits. 

“This rehearsal will be an all-day job, with a 
rest for limch,” Shepard told Guy at parting. “I’ll 
take Harold home with me at noon for that, so you 
needn’t bother about him. Will deliver him to you 


GCry HAMMERSLEY. 


179 

all right when you call for him at the theater at 
quarter-past five.” 

“ Don’t work him too hard now,” was Guy’s cau- 
tion, as he started for the office. 

Here he found an important commission awaiting 
him. 

“Guy,” said Mr. Clarke, as he entered, “ I think I 
shall have to ask you to go up on the New Haven 
road this morning. Mrs. Westmore and her daughter 
want to see the Warburton place up there at Rye. 
Both Mr. Kenworthy and myself have engagements 
we cannot break, and Bert has to go over on the 
West side. So here is sufficient for car fare and inci- 
dentals. You can get a carriage to take you over 
the place from the station. It is quite a distance, 
I believe. Old Mr. Warburton lives there, but you 
can make out a permit. You will find full informa- 
tion about terms of sale in this book,” and Mr. Clarke 
put his finger on a volume on top of his desk. 

Guy took down the book, and, finding the proper 
entry, discovered some facts about “ Lone Point,’’ 
which was the name given to the property, which 
fired him with eager curiosity to see it for himself. 

It was situated on Long Island Sound, comprised 
twenty acres in all, the house was built of stone, and, 
judging from the sectional view given in the descrip- 
tion, must be extremely handsome. The price asked 
was very high, and the reason for selling, illness of 
the owner’s wife, which forced him to take up his 
residence in the South of France. 

From Bert, Guy ascertained that the Westmores 
were people from Ohio, who had struck oil literally 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


i8o 

within the past few months, and were anxious to 
purchase a handsome country-seat along the Sound. 

*‘Oh, they’re not upstarts, as most of these newly 
rich are apt to be,” Arlington hastened to add. 
^‘They’ve had money before, but not so much. 
Here they come now.” 

A handsome brougham drew up before the door, 
and a young lady, apparently not more than sixteen, 
stepped out, followed by an older one, although the 
latter did not seem much past middle life. 

“ My, she’s as pretty as a picture. You’re in luck, 
Guy,” whispered Bert, as the two entered the office. 

But Guy seemed not to hear. His brows were 
knit in profound thought as he asked himself the 
question, “ Whom does that girl look like, and where 
have I seen her before ? ” He could give himself no 
satisfactory answer to either question, and tried to 
banish it from his mind as Mr. Clarke introduced him 
to the ladies and explained that he was to be their 
guide to Lone Point. 

“I shall make papa change the name if he buys 
asserted Miss Amy. “ Ur-r-r, it makes me shud- 
der every time I hear it mentioned. ” 

Guy was invited to occupy the extra seat in the 
front of the brougham, and the coachman ordered to 
drive to the Grand Central Station. 

Although it was a winter’s day, the sun shone 
bright, and our hero anticipated no small degree of 
pleasure from his outing. Candor compels us to add 
that he experienced this sensation more strongly 
when his eyes rested for an instant on his fellow 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, i8i 

occupants in the carriage than when he took note of 
the weather. 

Mrs. Westmore had a good many questions to ask 
concerning the house and grounds of the estate they 
were going to inspect. 

Mr. Westmore is so busy down-town,” she ex- 
plained, “ that he doesn't care to take the time to see 
the place unless he is certain first that it will suit Amy 
and myself. ” 

Guy, thanks to his study of the plans and maps, 
was enabled to answer most of the questions put to 
him, and by the time they reached the station, Mrs. 
Westmore and her daughter knew as much about 
Lone Point as he did himself. In exchange, as it 
were, Guy had learned that Miss Amy had a brother 
Ridley, two years older than herself, who was pas- 
sionately fond of driving, and who had charged them 
to see that the roads at Rye were good ones. 

The mention of this fact solved the mystery. 

know now where I have seen this girl,” said 
Guy to himself. “ Night before last, going into the 
Criterion Theater with the fellow who drives that 
T-cart He's the person she looks like, and must be 
her brother.” 

It was queer. He seemed bound to run across 
this fellow in one way or another. At any rate he 
had now found out his name — Ridley Westmore. 
And here was Guy, riding in the same carriage with 
his sister, and only two nights before he had taken 
two steps behind them, to try and imagine that he 
was enjoying his old-time privileges ! 

On reaching Rye, after a pleasant trip on the cars, 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


182 

Guy hired a hack in waiting at the station, and ordered 
the man to drive to the Warburton place. 

Both Amy and her mother were very favorably 
impressed with the appearance of the country, and 
the former declared that Ridley could not fail to be 
pleased with the facilities for driving. A ride of some 
twenty minutes brought them at last to the borders 
of the Sound, and presently the carriage turned in at 
an imposing gateway and bowled along an avenue 
that must have been beautiful indeed when the trees 
that bordered it were in leaf. 

The house, which could be seen a considerable 
distance away, was built of gray stone, and bore 
a strong resemblance to some European castle, or 
rather to that idea of it which is generally prevalent 
in this country. It stood clear out on the end of the 
point, the waves of the Sound washing the walls of 
the driveway closely on either side. 

“ How do you like it, Amy asked her mother. 

“ It must be lovely in summer,” was the girl’s 
answer — “ with the name changed.” 

“It seems very quiet all about here,” went on Mrs. 
Westmore. “ I should think it would take a good 
many servants to run a place like this. ” 

But when they reached the house, and Guy sprang 
out to press the electric button beside the massive 
front door, there was no response. Three times Guy 
rang, and then Mrs. Westmore asked the driver if 
everybody had gone away. 

“Don’t know much about this place up to the 
village,” was his answer. “ There’s a weddin’ of a 
butler’s daughter over to Mamaroneck at Mr. Arnold’s. 
P’r’aps all the help have gone there. ” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


183 


At this instant Amy exclaimed : 

“Look, mother, up at that window yonder. 
There's an old gentleman making signs to us." 

But now he had raised the window and was call- 
ing down : “ Did you come to see Mr. Warburton ? " 

“No, not exactly," replied Guy, coming out from 
the portico to stand under the second story window, 
out of which the old gentleman was leaning. ‘ ‘ These 
ladies have come with me from Messrs. Kenworthy 
& Clarke's, to see the house with a view to purchas- 
ing." 

“Oh, so sorry," returned the old gentleman. 
“ The servants are all out." 

(“ Why doesn't he come down and open the door 
himself? " whispered Amy to her mother.) 

‘ ‘ But won't they be back soon ? " asked Guy, feel- 
ing not a little chagrined to think that he had piloted 
the ladies all this distance on a wild-goose chase. 

“That is uncertain; I cannot say positively," re- 
sponded the old gentleman, who, as much as they 
could see of him, had a distinguished, even a military 
bearing. “ But perhaps you can get in, after all Is 
there not a rubber mat in front of the door ? " 

“Yes,” answered Guy, beginning to be consider- 
ably mystified. 

“Well, lift the — let me see — the northeast corner 
of it," went on the old gentleman, “ and I think you 
will find the key there. I believe that is where Max 
leaves it. And when you have opened the door, if 
you will be kind enough to replace it, I shall be 
much obliged." 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 




CHAPTER XXVIII. 

MAJOR WARBURTON INTRODUCES HIMSELF. 

** What an extraordinary person ! ” whispered Amy, 
as the old gentleman craned his neck out of the 
window to an alarming extent in order to see that 
Guy properly carried out his instructions. 

Before doing so, however, the latter looked ques- 
tioningly at Mrs. Westmore. 

“Yes, I don’t see why we shouldn’t go in,” she 
answered in response to the glance. “ I suppose the 
old gentleman is a member of the family and thinks 
it beneath his dignity to come down and open the 
door for us.” 

“He’s Mr. Warburton’s father, I think,” returned 
Guy, as he proceeded to carry out directions. 

He found the key on the spot designated, but be- 
fore opening the door stepped back to assist the 
ladies out of the carriage and ascertain at what hour 
they wished the driver to return for them. 

“Oh, can’t he wait?” asked Mrs. Westmore. 

“Yes, if you like,” returned Guy; “but the next 
train back doesn’t leave till i2;io, and it is just eleven 
now. ” 

“ Permit me,” broke in Che voice of the old gentle- 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


185 

man at this juncture. “Our horses do not receive 
exercise enough. I shall be most charmed to have 
Thomas take you all back in the wagonette.” 

‘"Oh, no,” protested Mrs. Westmore, while Amy 
shook her head vigorously. “I couldn’t think of 
putting you to so much trouble.” 

“ No trouble, but pleasure, I assure you,” insisted 
the old gentleman, and as he immediately disap- 
peared from the window, evidently with the intention 
of giving the order to the coachman at once, there 
was no chance for further expostulation. 

Thus there was nothing left for it but to pay and 
dismiss the man who had brought them over, after 
which Guy opened the door, and as the ladies passed 
in replaced the key under the comer of the rubber mat 
where he had found it He then hastened into the 
house, closing the door behind him. 

The hall was large and extremely ornate, with a 
huge fireplace at one side and the stairs coming down 
at one end in a series of graceful curves. Wide door- 
ways, with heavy plush hangings, gave glimpses of 
beautifully furnished rooms on either hand, while a 
broad window at one end, with a seat running its 
entire width, looked out on the Sound. 

But not a soul was visible, and a silence, almost 
portentous, reigned throughout the mansion. 

“Why, where’s the old gentleman ? ” Amy wanted 
to know. “ Why doesn’t he come to meet us ? ” 

“ Perhaps he’s gone to the stable,” Mrs. Westmore 
suggested laughingly. “But never mind the old 
gentleman, my dear. Use your eyes, so you can re- 
port to father and Ridley what the place looks like.” 


i86 


GUY HAMMERS LEY, 


The house was truly magnificent. Everything was 
in perfect order, all the ornaments out just as if the 
entire family were at home. Even the clocks were 
going. Both Mrs. Westmore and her daughter 
seemed greatly pleased, and when they crossed the 
hall, and, passing down a short corridor hung with 
tapestry, entered a wing used as a dining-room, they 
became positively enthusiastic. 

There was an outlook from two sides on the Sound, 
the ceiling was composed of a beautiful piece of 
fresco work, while in size the room was large enough 
to ‘‘give a german in,” as Amy put it 

“I am so anxious to see upstairs,” she said. 
“Where all is so lovely down here, I know the bed- 
rooms must be too sweet for anything.” 

“Shall we go up now ? ” asked Guy, as they reached 
the main hall again. 

“Yes, do,” pleaded the girl. “We can leave the 
kitchen and all that till afterwards.” 

So the broad staircase was mounted, and there at 
the top stood the old gentleman, leaning over a gate 
such as is used to keep small children from tumbling 
down. 

“So sorry I couldn't be with you to show you 
around down-stairs,” he began, as they came to a 
standstill with the gate between them. “ But that 
confounded Max — ^beg pardon, ladies, but he is ter- 
ribly exasperating at times — he has locked this affair 
too, from mere force of habit, for all the children are 
out.” 

“ But why do they lock it at all ? ” Mrs. Westmore 
wanted to know. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


187 

“ Oh, it's just Max’s forgetfulness. If you ” (turn- 
ing to Guy) would be kind enough to step back a 
few feet you may find the key in one of the turns of 
the stairway next the wall.” 

“ Well, this is the queerest series of proceedings that 
ever came to my notice,” muttered Guy to himself, 
as he retreated and began to fumble about on the 
stairs. 

He soon found the key, and having unlocked the 
gate, stood aside for the ladies to pass. Meanwhile 
the old gentleman was bowing and scraping in the 
upper hall. 

“Major Warburton, mesdames** he was saying. 
“ At your service. And so pained that you should 
have happened to arrive at such an inopportune mo- 
ment, with all the servants away. Pray allow me to 
show you at once to your rooms.” 

Mother and daughter exchanged a startled glance 
©n hearing this. What did he mean by speaking of 
“ their rooms,” as though they were visitors? But 
then he had gone on ahead, thrown open a door, and 
such an alluring prospect peeped forth that they de- 
cided they must have misunderstood and hurried in 
after him. 

They now found themselves in a beautiful apart- 
ment, looking out over the Sound. It was furnished 
throughout in pink, and the absence of a bed pro- 
claimed the fact that it must be a sitting-room. 

Major Warburton now insisted that the ladies should 
lay aside their wraps and remove their bonnets, as- 
serting that the house was very warm, which was 
indeed the case, and he seemed to take it so to heart 


i88 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


when they declined that they were finally fain to 
comply, and were rewarded with a most courtly bow 
as the old gentleman took the articles from their 
hands and placed them on a three-cornered table. 

‘‘Charming I” commented Mrs. Westmore, taking 
in the view from the different windows. 

“Is it not?” assented the major, and stepping to 
her side he began to point out some of the localities 
on the opposite shore of the Sound. 

Meanwhile Amy had discovered a cabinet with a 
glass face containing some beautiful specimens of 
embroidery. She called Guy's attention to them, 
and the two were endeavoring to study out the mean- 
ing of an intricate design, when Major Warburton’s 
voice, raised to a slightly louder pitch than before, 
attracted their attention. 

‘ ‘ Why, of course, madam, you are to become my 
guest,” he was saying. “But excuse me one mo- 
ment,” and before any one comprehended what he 
intended doing, he had turned, run out of the room, 
closed the door behind him and turned the key in the 
lock. 

The three inside looked at one another with expres- 
sions on their faces which not one of them will ever 
forget. Only for an instant, though, did they stand 
thus transfixed. 

“Mother,” gasped Amy, rushing across the room 
to clasp Mrs. Westmore around the neck. “What 
does this mean ! Why did he go out of the room in 
that way and lock the door? What were you saying 
to him ? ” 

But surprise and terror combined had so far over- 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 189 

come Mrs. Westmore that she could not at the mo- 
ment make any reply. She sank down on a divan 
behind her and mutely beckoned for Guy to approach. 
The latter had already sprung to the door and tried 
it. But he found it firmly secured. 

“Is that the only exit ? ” Mrs. Westmore asked him 
in a horror-stricken voice. “The man is crazy. I 
ought to have seen it before. All his oddness is 
explained now.” 

While she was speaking Guy had hurried across 
the room toward a curtain that hung at the farther 
end, and which he had just observed 

“Yes, here is a door,” he cried exultantly ; and 
instantly the other two had flown to his side. 

It was a portiere, and beyond it lay a bedroom, 
most completely furnished, and, what was more to 
the purpose under present circumstances, with three 
doors. 

Guy sprang at the first of these and pulled at the 
knob. But it resisted his efforts. The next he found 
opened, but it led only to a large cedar closet. The 
third one was ajar and gave access to a perfectly 
appointed bath-room, which had no other door. 

He turned back from this last trial with a blank 
face. 

“We are prisoners, then?” said Mrs. Westmore, 
scarcely able to pronounce the words. 

She was leaning against the window sash in the 
bedroom, and as she ceased speaking turned almost 
instinctively and looked down. It was all of twenty 
feet to the ground and an areaway of stone giving 
entrance to the kitchen, ran along just underneath. 


190 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


“Don't be disturbed, Mrs. Westmore,” said Guy> 
trying to inspire that hope in others which he was far 
from feeling himsel£ “ Surely we sha'n't be obliged 
to stay here very long.” 

“But it is dreadful to have to stay at all,” returned 
the poor lady. “And even if he does let us out soon, 
what fate may await us ? I do not know but I would 
rather stay here than see him again.” 

“I know I shall die if I do,” moaned Amy, who 
was quite unnerved, and stood beside her mother 
twisting her fingers in and out of one another in a 
way that was truly pitiable. 

At that instant the major's voice was heard in the 
other room. He was evidently looking for them, 
and, judging from his tones, was by no means in so 
pleasant a humor as he had been when he promised 
to send the party back in his carriage. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


IQI 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

GUY FINDS SOMETHING UNEXPECTEDLY. 

'*Why did you lock that front door when you came 
in?” the old gentleman was calling out, repeating 
the phrase over and over, as is the habit with those 
whose minds are unbalanced. 

Poor Amy, nearly fainting with terror, fell prostrate 
on the divan in the bay window, with her mother at 
her side trying to keep her courage up. 

“Don’t be frightened,” said Guy. “ I don’t think 
he’s of the sort to grow suddenly violent If possible, 
don’t let him see that you are afraid of him. What 
I can’t understand is what he means by my locking 
the door. How could I do that when I put the key 
under the rug outside, as he told me to ? ” 

By this time the major had reached the room where 
they were. As soon as he saw them he walked 
straight up to Guy, and taking him by the lapels of 
his coat, looked him straight in the eye as he de- 
manded ; 

“ Let me have that key out of your pocket 1 ” 

“ What key ? ” asked Guy, in order to gain time. 

“ The key to the front door, to be sure.” 


192 


GCry HAMMERSLEY. 


** I haven’t got it, Major Warburton. I left the door 
unlocked, and put the key under the mat, as you 
told me to,” replied Guy firmly, but respectfully. 

But the door is locked,” insisted the old gentle- 
man, “ and you must have done it. I want that key, 
or I cannot go out to the stable and order the 
carriage. ” 

Mrs. Westmore spoke up at this point. 

Major Warburton,” she said, “ I can testify that 
this young man disposed of that key exactly as you 
requested him to do.” 

Then, madam,” responded the major, bowing 
low, “ all I have to say is that some one has found it 
and made us all prisoners.” 

Mrs. Westmore flashed a glance at Guy, which was 
meant to express : “ Do you believe him?” 

This was just the question that was puzzling the 
young real estate clerk. He knew that the insane 
are fearfully cunning, and yet, if the door below had 
been open, and the major’s aim had been to get out, 
as undoubtedly it was, why should he not have made 
his escape if the door had been in the condition ir? 
which Guy had left it ? 

On the other hand, who could have locked it ? Ir 
it had been some one connected with the household, 
it was strange that he or she had not made an 
investigation into the cause of the door being open. 

‘^But surely there must be some other way of 
getting out,” went on Mrs. Westmore. Then, glanc- 
ing at her watch, she added : We must find it pretty 
soon, or we shall miss our train.” 

“ Madam,” rejoined the old gentleman, again 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


m 


bowing in his stately fashion, “I cannot think of 
allowing my guests to depart by any other than the 
front door. ” 

As he spoke he turned suddenly and went out as 
swiftly as he had done before, again fastening the 
door behind him. 

“ I cannot understand how that door came to be 
locked,” muttered Guy, and he then gave his rea- 
sons for believing that the major had told the truth 
about it. 

“ But it is unaccountable to me,” returned Mrs. 
Westmore, “ that a man in such a condition should 
be left by himself in this way. It seems really 
criminal. ” 

“ I dare say this is the first time it ever happened,” 
rejoined Guy. “ Doubtless the wedding the driver 
told us about was one that all the servants here wished 
to attend, thinking no harm could come to their 
charge in the brief time of their absence. This leads 
me to hope that they will soon be back and let 
us out.” 

But meanwhile that m^ may murder us all,” 
put in Amy. “ Can’t we lock ourselves in till the 
servants come back ? ” 

“ I think not There is no bolt on the door if I 
remember right,” replied Guy, stepping across the 
floor to investigate. “ No, I’m right But you need 
have no fears. Miss Westmore. You can see for 
yourself he is not violent” 

Nevertheless, it was by no means a pleasant situa- 
tion, although their imprisonment was in what might 
be called a gilded cage. The sun poured down a 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


194 

golden radiance on the sparkling waters of the Sound, 
and the whole place looked singularly beautiful, even 
at this season of the year. 

But to this not one of the three gave a thought 
Amy sat in one of the broad windows, with her face 
pressed against the pane, looking out with unseeing 
eyes. Her mother occupied a rocking-chair in the 
center of the room, glancing from her daughter to 
Guy, who was pacing the floor with knit brow. 

“ I wonder if I am responsible for this?” he was 
thinking. ** These ladies were sent here in my 
charge, but then who would have thought we were 
to be received by a lunatic ? ” 

At this point Amy sprang up from her seat with the 
exclamation : 

“ Look there, at that party in the sailboat I Can’t 
we attract their attention in some way, and get them 
to come to our rescue ? ” and forthwith she began to 
wave her handkerchief frantically. 

The men in the boat, which was about a hundred 
yards from shore, responded by waving theirs, and 
soon passed out of sight 

It’s no use to do that, Amy,” said her mother. 

They think you are only saluting them.” 

“ Some of the servants must be back very shortly,” 
added Guy. Perhaps we may be able to take the 
train we wanted, after all.” 

* ‘ If we had only allowed that driver to come back 
for us ! ” sighed Mrs. Westmore. 

Then ensued another silence, which each of the 
three, although none so expressed it, feared might 
be broken any moment by Major Warburton. Time 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


195 

dragged by, and, finding that conversation was an 
inspirer of hope, Mrs. Westmore began to talk to Guy, 
first of their situation, and when that subject was 
exhausted, of himself. 

‘*Your name,” she said, “while rather an odd 
one, is very familiar to me. My cousin married a 
Mr. Franklin Hammersley.” 

“ Why, that was my father's name I ” exclaimed 
Guy, almost springing out of the chair he had taken 
near the center table. 

“I wonder if it can be the same,” said Mrs. West- 
more, scarcely less excited than was Guy. “Was 
your father a Western man ? ” 

“Yes; I was born in Glendale, a suburb of Cin- 
cinnati,” answered Guy. “ I knew very few of my 
mother's relatives. She died when I was only a baby. ” 
“Then you must be my second cousin — let me see 
if I can recall your name ; ” and, with a hand out- 
stretched toward him, Mrs. Westmore bent her head 
in deep thought. Only for an instant, then she raised 
it with the exclamation : “ Guy. I just remember 
hearing they had decided to name the boy Guy. And 
you are Guy, are you not ? ” 

“Yes, that's my name; ” and the fellow felt slightly 
embarrassed as he submitted to having both hands 
clasped by his new found relative. 

“Well, this is queer enough,” remarked Mrs. West- 
more, when she had informed Amy of her discovery. 
“ Ridley will be delighted, I am sure, to find a cousin 
in New York so near his own age.” 

“That’s so,” reflected Guy. “She doesn't realize 
all the queerness of it, my turning out to be related 


196 GUY HAMMERSLEY, 

to the fellow Tve run across so often in such an odd 
way.” 

Amy seemed to become suddenly shy of the young 
real estate clerk, transformed into her third cousin. 
She blushed when he looked at her, as indeed Guy 
did himself, and the new order of things promised to 
separate rather than bring them together, when the 
key was heard to turn in the lock of the door, and the 
latter opened to admit Major Warburton. 

“ Oh, save me from him I ” cried the impulsive girl, 
fleeing to Guy and clasping his arm with both hands. 

“ Hush I ” cautioned Guy ; “don’t let him see that 
he terrifies you.” Then raising his voice, but still 
addressing her, he continued : “It was nothing but 
a mousescampering across the floor. Miss Westmore.” 

“Oh, have those pests got in here?” exclaimed the 
old gentleman. “ I must see that Max has traps set 
May I have the honor ? ” and he offered his arm to 
Mrs. Westmore. 

Guy, by an expressive look, indicated that she 
should take it, and then tendered his to Amy, as he 
whispered : “This may give us an opportunity to 
escape. ” 

So this strange lunch party filed out of the apart- 
ment, crossed the hall, and descended the stairs to the 
stately dining-room. 


eC/y HAMMERSLE K 


W 


CHAPTER XXX. 

A MATTER OF DATES. 

The table was set out most sumptuously, so far as 
the service was concerned. A table cloth of elaborate 
pattern, with embroidered edges, and napkins to 
match ; a beautiful ^pergne in the center, flanked oa 
either side by cut glass fruit dishes of unique design. 
A silver butter dish was at each place, while an im- 
posing coffee urn, most chastely wrought, stood at one 
end. 

There was an oyster plate at each cover, but instead 
of oysters or clams, these contained dates. In fact, 
dates were the only article of food visible. 

Dates were piled high in each of the fruit dishes, 
overflowed from the epergne, and reposed, one on 
each of the butter plates. 

Pray be seated,'" said the major, waving his hand 
to a place on his right for Mrs. Westmore, one on his 
left for Amy, while he motioned to Guy to take the 
other end of the table. “ I trust you are all fond of 
dates. They are a passion with me, you know. 
There are my sons, John and Mark, both named for 
their uncles, and here, some five years since, I dis- 
covered that John was bom on St John's Day, and 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


198 

Mark on St. Mark’s Day. And now do you wonder 
that I am interested in dates ? Help yourselves ; 
there are plenty more in the pantry,” 

Mad as a March hare,” said Guy to himself, glanc- 
ing out of the broad windows in search of assistance, 
as he helped himself to dates with an oyster fork. 

Amy was too frightened to eat. Observing this, 
Major Warburton frowned and said meaningly : 

“I trust, my dear young lady, you are not going 
to neglect my favorites.” 

On finding herself thus addressed, the poor girl’s 
cheek paled and Guy feared that she was going to 
faint This would have been most unfortunate, as 
the excitement which it would naturally induce would 
be very apt to cause the old gentleman to become 
more than merely peculiar. 

Something must be done at once to avert such a 
catastrophe. But what? Guy glanced about the 
room wildly, while Amy, with the major’s suggestion 
reinforced by a meaning look from her mother, was 
making an heroic effort to carry a date to her mouth. 

If it were only possible to lure the old man into 
some strong room and confine him there ^ During 
their recent inspection of the mansion they should 
have seen such a place, if one existed, and suddenly 
Guy recollected where it was. The china closet I 

This was situated in the passage-way leading from 
the hall to the dining-room and was lighted, as Guy 
had remarked at the time, by a high, narrow win- 
dow, scarcely six inches wide, and which, viewed 
from the exterior, was one of the features that con- 
tributed to give the house its castle-like aspect. The 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


199 

door of stout oak was a sliding one, with the key on 
the outside, as Guy remembered by reason of Mrs. 
Westmore having caught her dress in it as she 
passed. 

‘‘ If I can only get him into that closet by some hook 
or crook,” thought the boy, ‘‘ we can shut him up 
there and go for help.” 

But what pretext could be found for getting the 
host up from the dinner-table and into the china 
closet ? 

“ If I can only lure him there by some stratagem,” 
Guy told himself. 

He had just eaten his last date, which left him free 
k) admire the entire design of the oyster plate if he 
so chose. But he was far too preoccupied to give it 
more than a passing glance. And yet this one glance 
furnished him with an inspiration. 

“Oh, Major Warburton,” he suddenly broke forth, 
“you say you are so fond of coincidences in dates. 
I wonder if I have not discovered another for you.” 

“Really, what is it? Most extraordinary, I am 
sure,” and the major abandoned his attempt to make 
Amy eat, and turned to his vis-a-vis with eager 
interest in face and voice. 

“Why, these oyster plates,” rejoined Guy, hoping 
that the Westmores would understand that he had a 
special plan in view. “They are the handsomest I 
have ever seen, and I was just wondering whether 
the set was complete. I suppose there are twelve of 
them, and this is the twelfth of the month. But 
servants are so careless, it is possible some of them 
may have been broken.” 


200 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


It was a lame expedient, Guy knew. Only a man 
crazy on one theme could by any possibility be 
taken in by it. In the greatest suspense he awaited 
the result. 

That’s so,” exclaimed the major, after an instant’s 
reflection. “It is the twelfth of the month, and I 
know we had a dozen of those oyster plates. But I 
heard a crash in the pantry only yesterday, and it is 
barely possible one of these dishes was in it. ” 

“ Had you not better see at once ? ” suggested Guy, 
boldly. “ These coincidences in dates are very im- 
portant — to us, ” he added under his breath. 

“Well, if the ladies will excuse me for a moment, 
I believe I will,” rejoined the major, after wriggling 
uneasily in his seat “ I will be right back.” 

He rose and stepped, in his quick, nervous fashion, 
across the hard- wood floor. The china closet was 
just within the hallway, and as soon as he had dis- 
appeared within it, “ Let us fly,” gasped Mrs. West- 
more, half rising from her chair. 

Guy shook his head, laid his finger across his lips, 
and then rising, stole on tiptoe towards the hallway. 
He heard the rattle of crockery just as he reached it, 
then seizing the door knob at his left, he suddenly 
ran it forward and turned the key in the lock inside 
of half a minute. 

Amy gave a faint scream, and Mrs. Westmore got 
up and hurried to her side. Guy only waited long 
enough to make sure that the door was securely 
locked, and then came back into the dining-room. 

Before he could say a word a series of thunderous 
blows was rained upon the oak portal of the china 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


201 


closet and an instant later a crash of crockery was 
heard. 

“ Oh, this is terrible,” groaned Mrs. Westmore, for 
Amy had fainted, and lay back in the great carved 
chair, as if in death. 

Guy hastily brought some water, and between 
them they soon brought the girl to, but when she heard 
the noise the major was still making in the china 
closet, she showed strong symptoms of going off into 
another collapse. 

“We must get her into some other part of the 
house,” said Guy. 

“ But why not leave at once ? ” returned the mother. 
“ If as you say, he cannot get out of that pantry, 
there is nothing now to hinder us from making our 
escape.” 

“ I am afraid there is,” was the reply. “You re- 
member we discovered all the windows locked with 
some patent fastening, and I am sure that stone area- 
way runs all around the house. But if we go up- 
stairs again I think your daughter can be made more 
comfortable. It cannot be very long now before 
some one comes.” 

So, one on either side of the terrified girl, they con- 
ducted her up the stairs to the pleasant room where 
they had first been made prisoners. 

“Now, if you will remain here,” said Guy, “I will 
go down and see if there is any possible way of get- 
ting out. You need not be alarmed to stay alone. 
I am sure the old gentleman cannot make his escape.” 

“ Go,” said Mrs. Westmore; “ we will stay here 
and watch for any chance passer-by.” 


202 


Gcry hammEI^sley. 


He remained on that floor long enough, however, 
to satisfy himself of one thing : that the major had 
been shut in a room specially reserved for him and 
had forced his way out. Pulling aside a portiere at 
the end of this upper hall way, Guy beheld the solution 
of the mystery, for a mystery he certainly held it to 
be that a man so far gone in dementia as Major 
Warburton should be left to roam at will in such a 
mansion. 

Behind the curtain just mentioned was a door with 
a hole in it just below the lock as large as Guy's fist 
It had evidently been whittled out with a knife so 
that the occupant's hand could be thrust through and 
the bolt slid back. Stepping inside for an instant, 
Guy beheld an apartment almost luxurious in its fur- 
nishings, a suiie of them in fact, for parlor and dining- 
room, chamber and bath, opened out of one another. 
But he had no time to make a close inspection. He 
must see if there was not some means of leaving the 
house which contained such a fearful skeleton in its 
closet 

Retracing his steps, he descended the main stair- 
way, and was almost deafened by the shouts and 
blows which the old gentleman was keeping up in 
the china closet 

“If he should get out now I’m afraid he would 
kill us,” Guy told himself with a shudder he could 
not repress. 

And yet he felt that he had done the right thing in 
confining him. But what if he had that knife with him 
still? 

“I had better inspect the china closet door,” re- 
flected Guy. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


203 

He did so and found that, so far as the exterior, at 
any rate, was concerned, it was just as he had left it 
Paying no heed to the cries that came from within, 
he crossed the passage-way to the butler’s pantry, 
where he found a stairway leading to the basement 
He knew the outside doors were locked, and he was 
debating with himself whether he would be justified 
in breaking his way out through a window, when he 
heard footsteps on the porch overhead. 

He started to hurry back to meet the newcomers, 
but could not at once recall by which door he had 
entered the large kitchen in which he now found 
himself. He opened two only to find that they led, 
the one to the cellar, the other to the laundry, and 
had just hurriedly thrown back a third, when a heavy 
hand gripped him by the shoulder and a voice of 
strong German accent exclaimed in his ear; Ha, 
I haf you now. Here, Carl, help me wid the young 
rascal. Augusta, Augusta, run into the laundry and 
bring a clothes line till we bind him." 

Meanwhile Guy was struggling not only to free 
himself bodily from the firm grip in which he was 
held, but to exculpate himself morally from whatever 
charge should be brought against him. The nature 
©f this he could easily guess. He had been found 
in the basement of a house that was supposed to be 
locked up, and had been taken for a ^.hief. However, 
he had no fear but that he could easily explain 
matters. Besides, there were Mrs. Westmore and her 
daughter to bear witness to his story. 

But up to the present moment he had gained not 
the slightest headway in this direction. With two men 


204 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


ready to place their hands over his mouth as soon as 
he started to open it, there was not much encourage- 
ment to talk. Finding himself powerless to contend 
against both, he presently ceased to struggle, resolved 
to wait till their choler, valor or whatever it was, 
had cooled a little, when he would, in all the quiet- 
ness of offended dignity, convince them of the 
serious error they had committed. 

Suddenly the unknown “ Augusta '' announced 
her return with the clothes line by calling in a loud 
whisper : “ Here’s a rope, Carl” 

Guy started. Where had he heard that voice be- 
fore? He was so absorbed, trying to remember, 
hoping that he should find a friend, that he made no 
resistance when his two captors hustled him out of 
the dark closet into the center of the kitchen. Here 
there was a three-sided recognition, for, as soon as 
he caught sight of her face, Guy saw that Augusta” 
was none other than Mrs. Traubmann, the wife of 
the Greenwich Street shoe dealer, while the latter 
himself was one of the two men who were indus- 
triously winding him up in the clothes line. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


205 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

FRESH FOES. 

Mrs. Traubmann gave a scream, and began to 
jabber away to her husband in German. The latter 
had already started back with the exclamation: 
“That thief of a clerk I ” 

“ It’s all up with me now, ” sighed poor Guy. “ Mr, 
Inwood has evidently never taken pains to clear my 
character at the shoe store. My sole reliance now is 
the Westmores. ” 

After a great deal of talk in their native tongue, and 
when Guy had been trussed up like a turkey and tied 
to the door knob, he found an opportunity to get in 
a word. 

“Mr. Traubmann,” he began. 

But he got no further. 

“Dere, vat I tell you, Max?” broke in the shoe 
dealer. “You see he know me, and gif himself away. 
Ach, he must be a bad one. ” 

“ Go up to the second floor and ask two ladies you 
will find there if I am not telling the truth when I 
say that I came here with them from Kenworthy & 
Clarke to show them the house. ” 

By a persistent effort Guy managed to hold the 
floor long enough to get all this out, and he could 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


«o6 

see, from the expression on the face of the man called 
Max (who was evidently Major Warburton’s keeper) 
at the mention of the real estate agents" names, that 
he had produced an impression. 

Go and see if you can find the ladies, Augusta,"' 
he said. 

But Mr. Traubmann interposed with : ‘‘Don't waste 
your time, Augusta. Dot is only a story of dis young 
man’s. You know vat he is."" 

Guy suddenly bethought him of that note Mr. In- 
wood had scribbled for him. If he could show that 
to the shoe dealer it would be sufficient to rehabili- 
tate his character. He was not sure whether he had 
it about him or not, and, bound as he was, he could 
not make an examination to find out. 

As may be imagined, he was by this time pretty 
wrothy. 

“You are insulting not only me but my employers,"' 
he cried, “ besides compelling me to leave the two 
ladies whom I accompanied here to wonder at my 
absence.” 

“ But why did you try to rush into dat pantry and 
hide when you heard us coming? "" Max wanted to 
know. 

“ I became confused with all the doors about here 
and lost my way,” replied Guy. “ I was trying to 
hurry up and meet you. ” 

“ But vat business had you down here any vay ? " 
put in Mr. Traubmann. 

At this instant a crash of chinaware sounded directly 
overhead. The major had remained quiet for the 
past few minutes, or else there had been so much 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


207 

noise in the basement that Guy had failed to hear 
other sounds. 

“ Himmel 1 ” cried Max, making for the stairs. 
“ De major must have got out.” 

“What will he say when he finds him locked up 
in the china closet ? ” Guy asked himself. 

He had the key in his pocket, he recollected, with 
a sense of satisfaction. The liberty to get this would 
permit him to search for that scrap of paper from Mr. 
Inwood. 

It seemed that Max had not been gone half a 
minute before he was back again, leaping down the 
stairs two steps at a time, and almost foaming at the 
mouth with rage. 

“Did you lock Major Warburton up?” he de- 
manded of Guy, rushing fiercely up in front of the 
prisoner. 

“ Certainly I did,” answered the latter boldly. “ I 
am sure he is not a safe person to be allowed at 
large.” 

“ But he wasn't at large. He was locked up in hi* 
own apartment, and must have let him out. ” 

Guy could see that a good share of the anger mani- 
fested by the German was due to the fact that he felt 
that he was himself guilty of gross negligence in hav- 
ing left his charge alone. We are always more 
severe on others when we feel that we ourselves 
have been derelict in duty. 

“ What would I want to let a crazy man out for?” 
returned Guy. “ I tell you he was out when I came 
in, and I was obliged to lure him into that closet for 
fear he might do some deed of violence. Did you 


3o8 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


see the ladies when you were upstairs just now? ” he 
added suddenly. 

‘‘ No, and I don’t believe there are any ladies here,** 
returned Max suddenly. But the first thing: I’ve got 
to attend to is de major. Vere is de key to dat 
closet ? ” 

I’ve got it in my pocket” 

“ Hand it over then.” 

“ If you will undo my hands so that I can get at 
it, I shall be most happy to do so.” 

“Tell me vhich pocket it’s in and I’ll get it,” said 
the wary Max. 

“Here,” and Guy nodded his head towards his 
right thigh. Then he added : “I wish at the same 
time, you’d take my card case out of my breast 
pocket I think you’ll find a paper there that will 
convince Mr. Traubmann that Mr. Inwood had reason 
to change his opinion of me.” 

“ I’ll find that, while you get de key,” volunteered 
the shoe dealer, eagerly launching himself on the 
prisoner. “Augusta” meantime had disappeared. 

Max soon had the key and was off upstairs to free 
the major and prevent further destruction of the War- 
burton crockery, and Mr. Traubmann was presently 
going through the contents of Guy’s pocketbook. 

But even as he began to finger the cards and mem- 
oranda of various sorts, the owner was stricken by 
the recollection that he had stuffed the paper into the 
pocket of another coat which was now hanging in 
the closet at home. 

“Nevermind,” hesaid; “ you won’t find it” 

“Aha, I thought so,” muttered Traubmann, and 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 


209 

at the same instant ‘‘Augusta'’ returned with the an- 
nouncement : “Dere’s no ladies here. I been de 
house all over.” 

No ladies there ! Guy could not understand it. 
What had become of Mrs. Westmore and Amy? 
Without them he had no one to substantiate his claim 
that he had entered the Warburton house on legiti- 
mate business. He had already shown the Ken- 
worthy & Clarke permit, but Mr. Traubmann had 
easily persuaded Max that this went for nothing, as 
any one expressing a desire to see the house could 
obtain one. 

But to the fact of his own predicament Guy gave 
at present but little heed. His mind was wholly 
occupied with the problem of the whereabouts of the 
two ladies. Could any evil have befallen them ? 
Possibly Major Warburton might have broken his 
way out and 

Guy dared not follow this thought, but turned anx- 
iously to Mr. Traubmann with the question : 

“Do you suppose that madman can have got 
away from his keeper, the fellow you call Max?” 

At the suggestion of such a possibility, both the 
shoe dealer and his spouse turned pale, and without 
vouchsafing a reply beat a precipitate retreat up- 
stairs. 

Guy tugged at his bonds in the effort to follow 
them, but he could not free himself and was fain to 
wait with all the patience he could muster for the 
return of Max. 

The minutes passed and no one came. All was 
quiet above. 


210 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


**They must have forgotten me,” was Guy^s con- 
clusion when the kitchen clock had ticked off an hour 
of this dreary waiting. ** I’m going to see what 
effect a few calls from a healthy pair of lungs will 
produce.” 

Thereupon the prisoner in the kitchen set up a 
series of yells, learned at Fairlock, that might have 
led a passer-by to infer that the lunatic of the mansion 
was confined in the basement. 

A feminine shriek, emitted from somewhere close 
at hand, apprised Guy that some one, at any rate, 
had heard him, and three minutes later Max rushed 
in, followed rather timorously by a string of maid 
servants. 

“ What do you mean by raising such a row ? ” de- 
manded the major’s keeper sternly, hastily inspect- 
ing Guy’s bonds, to make sure that there was no 
danger of his breaking loose. 

“What do you mean by keeping me tied up here ? ” 
retorted Guy with spirit. “I’ve borne the thing 
meekly long enough. It’s a disgrace. Mr. Ken- 
worthy will let your employer know of the affair.” 

“ Dat for your Mr. Ken worthy 1 ” exclaimed Max, 
with a snap of the finger. “You can do all your 
talking to Mr. Scriber, de magistrate. Here’s de 
constable now.” 

Matters were indeed growing serious for poor Guy. 
Was it possible that he must spend a night in jail till 
some one could come up from the office and identify 
him ? Where could Mrs. Westmore be ? 

“Well, where’s the burglar?” 

This from a short, thick-set man, who had just 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


2IE 


descended the stairs, clinking a pair of handcufife 
suggestively. 

Guy winced at sight of the latter. This was mon- 
strous that he should be subjected to such indigni- 
ties. Was Mr. Traubmann responsible for it all, he 
wondered? 

Meantime Max had laid his hand on Guy's shoulder 
as indicating “ the burglar," and the constable ad- 
vanced with handcuffs open, when a new actor 
appeared on the scene. 


GUY ffAMMEKSLEY. 




CHAPTER XXXII. 

EXPLANATIONS AND A CALL. 

The newcomer was none other than Mrs. Westmore. 

Oh, Mr. Hammersley — Guy 1 ” she gasped, at 
sight of the boy lashed about with the clothes line. 
** What does this mean ? ” 

Max started when he heard the familiar way in 
which this refined looking lady addressed the captive. 

‘‘ It means,” replied Guy, “ that I am accused of 
entering this house with burglarious intent. You can 
tell them, Mrs. Westmore, to the contrary.” 

* ‘ Certainly I can. Release him instantly, ” and the 
lady spoke in such a tone of authority that Max never 
waited to put any questions, but proceeded to unbind 
Guy forthwith. 

The poor fellow’s limbs were quite stiff from his 
hour’s confinement, and he was forced to sink into a 
chair for a moment after he was freed. 

“ It is shameful,” declared Mrs. Westmore ; then a 
sudden light breaking in upon her, Why, it is my 
fault partly, I do believe,” she added hastily. “ If I 
had been here, to put in my evidence before, you 
might have been spared all this. But Amy, as soon 
as she saw people downstairs, begged me to flee 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


213 

with her. We thought we should find you down 
here, but saw no one. The door was open though, 
and poor Amy was so terrified and eager to be out of 
the house, and off the place that I was obliged to go 
with her, without waiting to find out where you were. 
I am so sorry."' 

“Oh, it’s all right,"’ returned Guy, rising. “Do 
you think we shall have time to catch the train we 
wanted ? ” 

“Yes, the carriage is at the door, and Amy is 
waiting at the station.*" 

As Guy turned to follow Mrs. Westmore upstairs. 
Max stepped up to him, and in very humble tones 
begged that he would not report the morning's pro- 
ceedings. But Guy would not promise. He felt 
that a season of fear and trembling would be a good 
thing for the delinquent 

“ Why do you suppose they permitted us to go to 
the house that contained such a skeleton in its 
closet ? " said Mrs. Westmore, as they drove back to 
the village. 

knew nothing about it, ""returned Guy, speak- 
ing for Ken worthy & Clarke. “And evidently our 
driver did not I suppose the Warburtons did not 
want to acknowledge that the old gentleman was a 
fit subject for the asylum, so allowed him to remain 
in that room, as they thought, properly guarded. 
But this wedding evidently tempted the whole force 
of servants to take an hour off, and in that time the 
mischief was done."" 

Amy was still in a highly excited state, so nothing 
was said to her about the sequel to the morning’s ad- 


214 


GVY HAMMERSLEY. 


venture. In fact, during the journey back to town 
no reference whatever was made to the Warburton 
place. 

But just as they parted at the Forty-Second Street 
station, Mrs. Westmore drew Guy aside and said in 
a hurried undertone: *‘We owe the demented old 
major one thing, at any rate : the discovery of a 
relative. Ridley will be around to see you immedi- 
ately, and I want you to consider our house your 
kome, and remember I am no longer Mrs. Westmore, 
5ut your * Cousin Anna. ’ ” 

Guy made up his mind that he would say nothing 
2 t home, for the present, at least, about his adventure 
m the country. Indeed, there was so much excite- 
ment over Harold’s success that there was small 
opportunity to introduce a new theme. 

The result of the boy’s first rehearsal was satisfac- 
tory in the extreme, and Mr. English predicted a 
brilliant ‘ * first night. He himself accompanied Guy 
and Harold to Harlem for a personal interview with 
Mrs. Hammersley. 

“May I use the boy’s own name on the bills? ” he 
asked in the course of the talk. “ It is an eminently 
fitting one for such a purpose.” 

After a little hesitation, Mrs. Hammersley gave her 
consent to this, and the manager hurried off to send 
the order to the lithographer. 

Ward began calling Harold, “ Your Royal High- 
ness ” forthwith, and wanted to know if the free list 
at the Criterion was to be “ absolutely suspended ” 
during the engagement 

“And if I were you, Harry,” he added, ** Fd send 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


215 


a special dispatch to Mrs. Burnett, asking if she won’t 
substitute a cat for a dog in the second act. Then 
you could have Emperor’s name starred with yours. ” 

But the boy was so happy over his prospects that 
he did not in the least mind a little teasing. He 
gave the family a detailed account of his day’s ex- 
periences at the theater, where everybody had been 
extremely kind to him, and not a few funny incidents 
had happened during the rehearsal. 

The next morning’s papers contained a paragraph 
announcing a grand production of “ Fauntleroy ” at 
the Criterion “with Master Glenn, a boy of unusual 
talent, and one who looks the part to perfection. ” 

Again Guy left him at the theater on his way to 
the office, for there was still a good deal of work to 
be done in order that all should move smoothly on 
Monday. 

Our hero was just putting away his things that 
afternoon, preparatory to calling for the boy, when 
a young fellow entered whom he at. once recognized 
as Ridley Westmore. 

“ Is Mr. Guy Hammersley in ? ” he inquired. 

“That is my name,” rejoined Guy. 

“What, you?” exclaimed the other impulsively, 
and Guy knew that he too remembered those two 
contrasted meetings on Fifth Avenue. 

“Yes, and I can guess that you are Ridley West- 
more, ” he said frankly. 

“Your cousin, and awfully glad to make your ac- 
quaintance,” returned the other cordially, extending 
his hand, quite recovered from his surprise. “ That 
is,” he added, “if you’re willing to reckon cousins 


2i6 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


three or four times removed. Fm not just sure 
which it is. ” 

‘‘Fd be glad to know you if you were fifty times 
removed or — no, I don’t mean literally,” he added, 
as Ridley began to laugh with the thought of the un- 
complimentary interpretation that might be put upon 
the declaration. 

This faux pas of Guy’s broke all the remaining ice, 
and he was about to ask Westmore to be seated when 
he recollected that he himself was due at the theater 
inside of ten minutes. 

“Fll have to keep up this removing dodge,” said 
he, laughing, ‘*by asking if you would mind walk- 
ing along with me to the Criterion Theater instead of 
sitting down.” 

“Certainly I wouldn't; that’s on my way up-town. 
Going after tickets, I suppose. ” 

“No, I am going to get a small brother of mine. 
He’s been there all day rehearsing. ” 

“ Small boy — Criterion — rehearsing I You don’t 
mean to say your small brother is Harold Glenn, 
who’s announced to open in * Fauntleroy ’ next Mon- 
day ? ” and Ridley stopped stockstill in the doorway 
while he put the question. 

“Well, he’s my half-brother, and a mighty nice 
little chap he is, too,” rejoined Guy. “Come along 
and Fll introduce you.” 

“ I am in luck,” ejaculated Ridley, as he started 
off, little imagining the part he was destined to play 
in the fortunes of the youthful star. 


GC/V HAMMEJiSLEY. 


217 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

AN UNLUCKY INVITATION TO DINE. 

It was but a short distance from the office of Ken- 
worthy & Clarke to the Criterion Theater, but on the 
way Ridley managed to find out a good deal about 
the small boy concerning whom all the newspapers 
were beginning to talk. For this young fellow, fresh 
from a region where theaters were few and far be- 
tween, took a deep interest in matters dramatic, and, 
as he had said, counted himself fortunate to have 
fallen in with an opportunity to ** go behind.” 

So absorbed were the two in their conversation 
that neither of them noticed a man who stood in the 
doorway of a hotel across the street, directly opposite 
the theater, and who was attentively regarding them. 
He disappeared inside as soon as he saw them turn 
in at the stage door, and a few minutes later a man 
wearing the same clothes, but with an altogether 
different face, passed out by the ladies’ entrance of 
the hotel and hurried across the street to the theater. 

This second man had a thick head of hair, and 
quite a long, brown beard, while the person who had 
been leaning against one of the front columns but a 
short time before was almost bald, and wore simply 
a mustache. He made his way at once to the stage 


GUY HAMMERSLE Y, 


2i8 

door, and on being challenged by the doorkeeper as 
to his business there, replied that he had been sent 
for by the gasman to examine one of the stage 
burners. 

As there was no performance in progress, the door- 
man, after looking the visitor over for a moment, 
mumbled out a gruff leave to enter, which the 
stranger hastened to accept But once inside, he 
paid no attention to gas pipe or burner, merely hast- 
ening to conceal himself behind a stack of scenery 
near a group standing talking not far from the pas- 
sage leading to the entrance way. 

And when he heard the following introduction 
made : ‘‘Mr. English, let me present my friend, Mr. 
Westmore,” and, peering around the edge of the 
scene, saw Guy's companion shaking hands with a 
business-like looking man without an overcoat, he 
rubbed his hands with an air of extreme satisfaction. 

‘ ‘ Westmore 1 Odd name, ” he muttered. “ Dressed 
pretty fine. Must be son of the oil king. Easy to 
get on his track. Ah, what's that he's saying to the 
kid ? " 

Ridley had stepped to one side with Harold and 
Guy, and this is what the listener overheard : “I 
want you and your brother to come to dine with us 
to-morrow night" 

The invitation was accepted, conditioned on Mrs. 
Hammersley being willing that Harold should go. 
And, as the boy would not be needed so long for re- 
hearsal the next day, Ridley arranged to call for 
him at the theater at three in the afternoon, take him 
for a drive in the park, and be back at their home in 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


219 

upper Madison Avenue by the time Guy arrived there 
after business hours. 

“Suits me to a T,” muttered the man behind the 
scenes, and forthwith took himself off, the others soon 
afterwards following his example. 

Her boy's prospects seemed to have a salutary 
effect on Mrs. Hammersley's health, and it was 
hoped now that she would be well enough to attend 
the first performance on Monday. On learning that 
the Westmores were relatives of Guy's, she gladly 
consented to Harold's visiting there, and he was 
dressed accordingly when he went off with Guy the 
next morning. 

Mr. Shepard met him as usual at the theater, and 
assisted Mr. English in coaching him for the part, 
and at one o'clock took him off with him to lunch. 
Young Westmore had promised to call for him at 
three, but at half-past two, just when his work for 
the day was over, the doorkeeper came in with a 
note for the boy star. It ran as follows : 

“My DEAR Harold : 

“ It has turned out such a beautiful day that I have decided to 
take you for a longer drive. To gain time, we are to start from 
our stable on the West side, and, as my sister is going with us, I 
must escort her over. I send Edward, a groom of mine, to bring 
you up there. Sorry I could not come myself, but it will all go to 
make a more pleasant outing for you in the end. 

“ Truly yours, 

“ Ridley Westmore. 

Telling Mr. English, who knew of his engagement 
with the Westmores, that Mr. Ridley had sent for 
him, Harold hurried into his overcoat and went out 


220 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


into the little box-like arrangement annexed to the 
theater, covering the stage door. 

Here he found a smooth-faced young man, very 
deferential in manner, waiting for him. 

“Did you come from Mr. Westmore after me?^* 
asked Harold. 

“Yes, your honor,” was the response, with a duck- 
ing of the body and a tweak of the forelock which 
protruded from a peaked cap such as jockeys wear, 
'‘ifyer honor's the young gentleman what’s goin' 
to play the lord of Fauntleroy in this here theay- 
ter.” 

“I’m the boy,” laughed Harold, “and I’m ready 
to go now.” 

He added this last as a reminder that the groom 
hadn’t been sent here by his master to peer in upon 
the stage fixings of the Criterion, which the fellow 
was now craning his neck in the endeavor to accom- 
plish. 

“ Yer pardon, young sir, ” responded the emissary, 
turning quickly, and, putting out a not particularly 
clean hand, he essayed to take one of Harold’s and 
literally lead the boy off. 

But to this the latter objected, and, sticking a hand 
in either pocket of his overcoat, he announced that 
he could walk along by himself if the other would 
but show him the way. Edward seemed somewhat 
doubtful about acceding to this request, but a second 
look at the resolute expression on Harold’s manly 
face decided the matter for him. They went off to- 
gether, but there was two feet of pavement between 
them. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


221 


** Where is the stable?” asked Harold, as they 
approached Forty-Second Street. 

‘ ‘ The what ? ” repeated the young man 
“Why, the stable where Mr. Westmore keeps his 
horses, and where you’re taking me ? ” 

A strange look of dismay, of terror almost, came 
into Edward’s face as he listened to this repetition of 
the boy’s question. He knit his brows into a heavy 
frown and gazed wildly about as if expecting to find 
assistance for something that was troubling him, and 
then, unconsciously, Harold came to his aid by add- 
ing : “ Is it near enough to walk ? ” 

“No, we have ter take a car. Here comes one 
now. Hurry, or we won’t catch it.” 

Nothing loath for a run, Harold put his legs in 
motion, and the two were soon aboard a car on the 
Forty-Second Street road, bound west. Edward pro- 
duced two nickels wrapped in a scrap of newspaper 
and paid the fare with quite a lordly air, while Harold 
puzzled himself with the problem why Ridley West- 
more, who was so well dressed himself, should have 
such a slovenly servant about the place. 

At each avenue they crossed the boy thought they 
would get out, but his companion made no move. 
Presently the car stopped in front of a ferry-house, 
and Harold saw that this was the end of the route. 

“Come, we must hurry,” said Edward. “The 
boat’s just going to start.” 

“ The boat ? Why, what are we going on the boat 
for ? ” Harold wanted to know. “ Is the stable across 
the river ? ” 

“No, but de kerridge is,” explained Edward, draw- 


222 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


ing a long breath and speaking rapidly. “The boss 
changed his mind after the note was writ — or no, de 
missy had gone across de riber, and he got a tely- 
g^am to meet her wid de kerridge, an' he’ll be dere 
when we git over. Then he’s goin' ter take you a 
splendid drive among de hills. " 

While talking, Edward was making tracks for the 
ferry-house, and Harold was obliged perforce to fol- 
low him, as he was still a stranger in town and did 
not wish to be left alone. 

Boy-like, he was much distracted by the sights of 
the river to be seen from the boat, and did not pay 
much heed to other things till they had reached the 
other side, and when, after being conducted by his 
guide through several streets in a squalid neighbor- 
hood, there were still no signs of Ridley. 

“ Are you sure you know where he’s to be ? ” asked 
the boy. 

“Yes, pretty sure ; we’ll soon be there now,” and 
cheered by this intelligence, Harold plodded bravely 
on till they finally reached the country. 

The road was a lonely one, and at this point wound 
through a thick woods. And here, on suddenly turn- 
ing a corner, they came upon a close carriage. 

“ Here we are,” cried Edward, assisting Harold 
in. 

There was only one man inside, and as the horse 
was started off at a fast trot, Harold recognized, not 
Ridley Westmore, but Colonel Starr. 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 


223 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

WHAT HAPPENED ACROSS THE RIVER. 

“ Why, Colonel Starr, did Mr. Westmore send you 
after me ? ” exclaimed Harold, looking up in the 
colonel’s face all unsuspiciously. 

“ No, my son, he did not,” replied that individual 
solemnly, and he bent down and imprinted a kiss on 
the boy’s forehead. “ In this case I have been com- 
pelled to use a little deception in order that right 
may come out of wrong, and the cause of justice 
triumph. ” 

“ Why, what do you mean ? I don't understand,” 
exclaimed the boy, as much astonished by the kiss 
as he was mystified by the words. 

The colonel had relinquished the lines to Edward, 
who, mounting to the front seat of the ramshackle 
old vehicle, was urging the horse onward as fast as 
the ancient animal could be induced to move. In 
feet, no turnout could have been in greater contrast 
to that which Harold had expected to find awaiting 
him. 

“What do I mean, my dear boy ? ” answered the ex- 
concert company manager, who, with an arm about 
Harold, was holding him pressed tightly against his 


224 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


side. ** Prepare yourself for a shock, you poor child, 
who have been accustomed to so many of them. I 
am your father.” 

“You ! ” cried the boy, with all of amazement 
and nothing of joy in the exclamation. “ Then 
your name oughtn’t to be Colonel Starr, but Mr. 
Hammersley, like mamma s.” 

“ Ah, but Mrs. Hammersley is not your mother, 
my child,” and the colonel shook his head slowly 
from side to side as though he was personally deeply 
afflicted by this fact. “ Of course you will not take 
this as hard as you would had you known her as a 
mother for a very long time. ” 

“ But how do you know? I don’t believe it,” said 
Harold bluntly. “ Why didn’t you find it out before, 
if :t is so ? ” 

It was an old nurse we had once who told me 
about it only yesterday afternoon. She lay dying in 
a New York hospital and sent for me. She had 
charge of you when you were a little boy, and one 
day, when out walking with you, she reported that 
you were snatched from her arms by some evil look- 
ing men. All search for you was in vain. Your 
mother died from the shock, and my hair was pre- 
maturely whitened. Yesterday afternoon, as I say, 
this woman sent for me, and confessed that you had 
not been snatched away from her at all, but that she 
had sold you to a circus for I25, representing herself 
as your mother. You had been so sickly that the 
circus people could not train you up to their business, 
so they accepted the offer of a kind-hearted lady in a 
Pennsylvania town where they were showing, who 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


22S 

offered to adopt you. This lady was none other 
than Mrs. Colburn.” 

“ But why do I look so much like Mr. Glenn, 
then ? ” Harold wanted to know. 

He was taking the revelation very calmly, con- 
sidering the fact that he had never been over fond of 
Colonel Starr. 

“ Because he was my first cousin,” answered the 
colonel boldly. He had evidently made up his mind 
to stop at nothing that would serve to make his story 
have the semblance of holding water. 

“ Why didn’t you tell all this up there in Brilling ? ” 
Harold wanted to know. 

“ Because, as I have just told you, I didn’t know 
anything about it till yesterday afternoon, when that 
nurse, Betty Springsteen, sent for me and made her 
confession.” 

“ Why didn’t you come for me yourself then,” 
went on the boy, “and tell all my friends about it, 
instead of making a big deception like this ? I don’t 
think it was right or fair. What will Mr. Westmore 
say?” 

Your father is the first person to be considered,” 
responded the colonel oracularly. “ I foresaw that 
a great time would be made should I attempt to 
convince the Hammersleys of the mistake. My heart 
hungered to possess my boy. I am much better 
able to provide for you than is the widow, so you 
are far better off. ” 

Poor Harold I His heart began to fail him at last 
He had been through so many vicissitudes of par- 
entage in his short life that he could not be sure but 


226 


GUY ffAMMEJ^SLEY, 


that this man, who was so distasteful to him, was 
telling the truth. In that case, how could he give 
him the affection that would be his due ? And then, 
to be wrenched away in this sudden manner from 
his home, his friends and the career that was just 
opening so auspiciously before him ! 

This last thought inspired him with renewed 
courage. He felt that he belonged not only to his 
friends but to the public. His appearance for Mon- 
day night had been already advertised, and thus 
great interests were depending on his remaining in 
New York. 

“You must take me back at once. Colonel Starr,” 
he began decidedly. “ As long as you sent to the 
theater for me you must know that IVe got an 
engagement there.” 

“Certainly I know,” returned the colonel, “and 
that shall not be interfered with if you consent to 
remain quietly with me.” 

“ Why, what do you mean ? ” asked the boy. “ If 
I stay with you how can I be at the theater ? ” 

“By staying with me, I mean living with me,” 
was the reply. “ Of course it is to be expected that 
Mrs. Hammersley will make a great ado when she 
finds that you are gone, and try by hook or crook to 
get you back again.” 

“ Hush ; you shall not talk about my mamma that 
way,” broke forth the boy, struggling to free himself 
from the arm that held him. 

“She is not your mother now, but I am your 
father, and all your allegiance belongs to me,” re- 
joined the colonel, emphasizing his assertion by a 
tightened grip upon the luckless lad 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


227 

** I don’t believe it,” retorted Harold stoutly. ** If 
you would do so mean a thing as you have just done 
to get me to come out here, you wouldn’t mind tell- 
ing a story about the rest of it. If you won’t take 
me home, stop the carriage and let me get out 1 
guess I can find my own way back. ” 

“You shall not get out,” said Colonel Starr between 
his teeth, and, bringing his other arm into service, he 
held the boy in such a firm clutch that the poor little 
fellow could not even wriggle. 

Harold was now thoroughly frightened, and open- 
ing his mouth he gave vent to a piercing scream. 

Edward turned around, and gave one look back- 
ward, and then continued urging on the sleepy old 
horse, while the colonel, instead of becoming angry 
and threatening the boy, stopped his mouth with 
another kiss. 

“ My dear little son,” murmured he, “I know it 
comes hard to you at first to give up associations to 
which you have been accustomed. That is why I 
took this sudden method of effecting the change, and 
have brought you out to the quiet of the country in 
order that you may have a chance to get used to the 
new order of things.” 

“Where are we going?” asked Harold, after a 
pause, broken only by the sound of Edward’s persist- 
ent chirrups to the lazy nag. 

“To a house of mine not far from here. Then, 
when you are quieted down and reconciled to your 
new life, 1 will take you over to the theater and per- 
mit you to resume your rehearsals. But you must 
first promise me that you will be loyal to me and 


228 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


claim me as your father. This, of course, I have a 
right to expect. And if I hear of your complaining 
to any one that I am not your father, and that I have 
taken you off against your will, you never go back 
to play the part of Fauntleroy again. Will you prom- 
ise, Harold?” 

The boy was silent, torn by conflicting emotions. 
He could not feel that this man was in any manner 
related to him, and yet, should he not admit the 
claim, he would be deprived of his great ambition- 
playing his role in Fauntleroy. That Colonel Starr 
would be able to carry out this threat the boy had 
not the slightest doubt It would be a very simple 
matter to take him with him on some train and whisk 
him clear out West beyond any possible reach of his 
friends. 

‘‘Well, what do you say, Harold? Will you make 
that promise ? ” 

The colonel was plainly becoming impatient A 
little nervous, too, if one might judge from the fashion 
in which he looked out ahead over Edward’s shoulder 
towards a house which could just be made out some 
distance down the road. Clearly he had expected to 
find Harold of a more pliable disposition than had 
turned out to be the case. 

“ Let me think over it awhile. Colonel Starr, won’t 
you ? ” responded the boy, who had also been looking 
out ahead, and who had seen something with his 
sharp young eyes which the older ones of his seat- 
mate had failed to discover. 

“What good will it do you to think it over?” re- 
sponded the colonel. “You know as much about 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


229 

the conditions now as you will five minutes hence." 

It will be noted that Colonel Starr talked to the boy 
just as if the latter was a full grown man. This was 
doubtless owing to the fact that Harold, having al- 
ready taken up a profession, had come to be regarded 
as much older than he really was. 

“All right, in a minute," replied the boy, in atone 
so different from that in which he had just spoken 
that the ex-concert company manager instinctively 
followed the direction of his eyes. 

These were resting on a young man on a bicycle 
who was just passing the carriage. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


23c* 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

WAR ON WHEELS. 

]^FORE Colonel Starr could do anything to prevent 
ii, Harold had given vent to a piercing cry, “ Help I 
help I ” To be sure the colonel at once clapped his 
hand over his mouth, but the mischief had been 
done. 

“Hallo; what's up there, I wonder ?" said the 
young wheelman to himself, and checking his speed, 
he dismounted with the intention of making an in- 
vestigation. 

But meanwhile the instigator of this bold abduction, 
holding poor Harold with one hand, had leaned over 
and grasped the lines from Edward with the other. 

“ Whip up, whip him up, I tell you 1 ” he cried 
under his breath, and slashing the poor nag on the 
back with the reins, he tried to urge him into a 
gallop. 

Edward obediently plied the whip, and surprised 
into a spurt, the horse left his jog trot for a few min- 
utes, so that, when the bicyclist turned round he 
found the carriage quite a distance in the rear. But 
this fact only fired him with a greater desire to make 
his investigation. 

“Here's a chance I've been wishing for ever since 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


231 

I learned to ride,” he muttered to himself, as, spring- 
ing into the saddle, he started in pursuit of the van- 
ishing vehicle. 

Silently as an air ship the rubber-shod steed sped 
over the ground, and before Colonel Starr was aware 
diat his flight was really a chase, the stranger was 
alongside. 

“Hallo, hold on here 1” he called out “I want 
to speak to you.” 

“Don’t answer him,” the colonel warned Edward, 
still keeping his hand over Harold’s mouth. “Drive 
faster.” 

This last, however, was something which could 
not be compassed, especially since the young wheel- 
man had ridden up alongside of the horse and was 
calling out two “ Whoas ” for every one of Edward’s 
“Get up there’s.” 

This terribly exasperated Colonel Starr. 

“ Hi, there,” he finally shouted. “What are you 
doing ? Can’t you see we’re in a hurry ? Look out, 
or we’ll run you down. ” 

But to this the cyclist paid no other attention than 
to slightly turn his head and call back, “I’m bound 
to see this thing through. There’s something wrong 
inside there, so you might as well stop and explain 
first as last.” 

“ Confound your impudence I ” roared the colonel 
“ I’ll have you arrested at the first town. What do 
you mean by obstructing travel on the public high- 
way in this manner ? ” 

The cyclist made no reply, merely spun ahead and 
straight across the road, right under the horse’s nose. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


232 

crying, “ Whoa there 1 ” at the top of his lungs. Now 
as the beast was nearly blown from the effect of his 
spurt, this little act of heading off furnished him with 
all the excuse he wanted for stopping short, which 
he did with such suddenness that Edward was thrown 
forward on his knees with his chin on the dashboard. 

The wheelman did not lose a second, but dis- 
mounting in a trice and letting his machine down on 
the ground, he rushed up to seize the horse by the 
bridle. 

“Now then,” he cried, “I want to know who 
you’ve got in there that gave that cry for help. Who’s 
that boy that you’re holding down, Mr. Fat One?” 

There was a twinkle in the young man’s eye as he 
added these last words, but there was no fooling 
about the tone in which he spoke. He was a tall, 
well-built fellow, dressed in regular cycling rig, and 
it was plain to be seen that Edward was already 
overawed by his appearance. 

As for the colonel, he was terrible in his wrath. 
He could not do much himself, as one arm was fully 
occupied in keeping Harold quiet. But his voice 
was unencumbered, and he used some pretty strong 
language; that is, it was strong, if not pretty. It 
was all in the line of abuse of the man who dared to 
stop a traveler on a State highway in this unlawful 
manner. 

Get out of the way instantly,” he thundered, “ or 
I shall drive over you. Edward, go on,” and finished 
up by chirruping loudly to the horse himself 

But with a young giant at his head and only a 
weak-minded hireling at the reins, the animal decided 
that he preferred to stand still. 


GC/y HAMMERSLEY, 


233 

Now what are you doing to that boy ? ” demanded 
the wheelman. **Let him talk for himself.’' 

“ He is my son, and I have a right to do as I please 
with him,” returned the colonel, finding that he 
would be compelled to give some explanation. 

“Then why are you afraid to let him speak for 
himself?” returned the stranger promptly. 

“I’m not,” and removing his hand from Harold’s 
mouth, the colonel bent down and whispered in the 
boy’s ear, “Remember what I told you.” 

Harold hesitated for an instant. What if the 
colonel should turn out to be really his father? 
Besides if he spoke now and the young man with the 
bicycle did not succeed in wresting him from the 
clutches of his captor, his last state would certainly 
be worse than his first. 

But it was only for an instant that the boy hesitated. 
Then came the thought of his mother, her failing 
health, and the realization that his disappearance 
might prove a shock from which she could scarcely 
rally. 

“I will be brave,” was the boy’s decision, and 
instantly his clear voice rang out wdth the words : 

“I am not his son. He is kidnapping me. My 
name is Harold Glenn, and ” 

But at this point the colonel, noting the sudden 
gleam of recognition that came into the wheelman’s 
eyes at the mention of this name, once more clapped 
his hand over the boy’s mouth and forced him into 
the back part of the carriage, where he commanded 
Edward to stand guard over him. 

“Oh, ho, I see it all now ! ’’exclaimed the cyclist 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


234 

You want the boy for what he can bring you in. 
What an item for the morning papers 1 Come, now, 
instantly set that young gentleman out on the road 
here, or I follow you till I get force enough to com- 
pel you to do it Oh, no fear but what I can keep 
up with you. I am out for an afternoon's ride, with 
no particular destination, so I can just as well afford 
the time as not” 

The colonel’s only reply was a torrent of threal4> 
and another attempt to urge the horse on past tho 
determined young man who stood holding his bridlo. 
But the urgings no more moved the horse than did 
the abuse the man, and things were at this deadlock 
when a market wagon, loaded to the brim, and bound 
for the ferry, appeared on the scene. 

On the seats were the farmer and his wife, and, as 
the colonel was the first to catch sight of them, he 
called out : ** Hey, there, run your team over this 
young man’s wheel, will you ? He is trying to stop 
travel on the highway. ” 

The cyclist turned like a flash. 

“ Don’t you do it!” he cried. ** But come and 
hold his horse while I go into that carriage and 
rescue a boy this man’s trying to kidnap.” 

Laws a massy, Ephraim, what be all this ? ” ex- 
claimed the farmer’s wife, as the heavy wagon was 
brought to a standstill. 

“Don’t know, Maria, but ef ye’ll hold on ter the 
animals. I’m boun’ ter fin’ out,” and, as he spoke,” 
“Ephraim” climbed from his lofty perch, and with 
eyes agog walked over to the spot where the young 
bicyclist was standing. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


235 

** Here, hold this horse, and don’t let him stir, no 
matter what the fellow in there says,” commanded 
the man who had stopped travel, and, without giving 
the farmer opportunity to say whether he would or 
vjouldn’t, he sprang upon the shaft, and in another 
instant was grappling with the colonel. 

** Now you scoot out the back — never mind tearing 
the curtains,” he called out to Harold. 

For the colonel had been obliged to call Edward 
to his aid, and, thus left free, Harold was not slow 
in availing himself of the opportunity for escape 
pointed out to him by his unexpected champion. 
Pressing against the rear curtain of the rickety vehicle 
with all his might, he worked himself down, feet 
foremost, the slimsy canvas answering with a “ sish 
sish ” to the strain. 

The next instant he was on the ground, and in 
obedience to the beckoning hand of the farmer’s wife, 
made a dash for the clumsy vehicle and in a trice was 
seated on the lofty driver’s perch. 

As soon as the young wheelman became aware 
that his plan had been successful he adroitly extricated 
himself from the entwining arm of the colonel, who 
was as clumsy as he was big, sprang back to the 
ground, and calling to the farmer to leave the horse’s 
head, administered a lusty slap on the hip to that 
much enduring animal which sent him off on another 
spurt. 

“For the love o’ mercy, what war all the trouble 
about ; ” inquired the old farmer, rubbing his chin, 
and gazing from the rescuing cyclist to the rescued 
boy as if he had been bewitched by one or the other 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


236 

of them, he couldn't decide which. I jess stepped 
down ter look into matters — didn’t want ter take sides 
till I was sartain what one I ought to go in with, but 
somehow ” 

‘‘Never mind, squire, ” broke in the young man. 
“You did just the right thing, and you’ll never regret 
it and I’ll see that they spell your name right when 
they put it in the papers to-morrow morning. ” 

“ My name in the papers I ” repeated the old man, 
looking more dazed than ever. 

“Yes, yes,” the other assured him. “But we 
haven’t time to stop and explain matters now. I’ll 
do that on the ferry-boat Just you take that young 
gentleman along with you down to the river, and I’ll 
see that our fat friend doesn’t interfere again.” 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


237 


CHAPTER XXXVL 

A FREQUENT CHANGING OF SUBJECT* 

Our friend, the cyclist who had championed 
Harold's cause, did not find it necessary to prevent 
Colonel Starr from interfering with the boy's journey 
to the ferry on the farm wagon. The colonel evi- 
dently considered that it would be the best for himself 
in the end to own up to being beaten, for he never 
turned his carriage around. 

The farmer's horses were put to a trot, so that the 
wheelman could ride by the side of the wagon, and 
Harold told his story. It would be hard to say 
whether the worthy couple who had assisted in the 
rescue were more astounded at the boldness of the 
colonel's scheme for abduction than at the fact that 
such a small boy should be a play actor." 

The wheelman gave his name as Stanley Cross, 
and on reaching the New York side padlocked his 
machine and left it at the ferry-house while he went 
up-town with Harold. 

I'm ever so much obliged to you both," said the 
latter, in parting with farmer Ephraim and his wife, 
“ and if you'd like to see me act I'll get Mr. English 
to send you tickets for the first matinee if you'll give 
me your address." 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


238 

‘"Well, well, I do declare now,” was all the old 
man could say ; but he produced the stub of a lead 
pencil and wrote directions for sending the tickets 
that filled the entire back of an old envelope Cross 
handed him, for he was so fearful the letter would 
miscarry that he put down the county and township 
even. 

It was by this time five o'clock, and almost dark, 

“I wonder if mamma knows about it yet,” re^ 
marked Harold soberly, as he and Cross descended 
the elevated stairs at Ninety-Third Street. If she 
does, she must — why, there’s Guy ! ” 

And so it was, and Ridley Westmore and Arthur 
Shepard with him, all three with the most solema 
visages. They were just about to cross the avenue 
to the down-town station when Harold saw them. 

** Guy, Guy I ” he called out, making a dash for the 
middle of the street. “ Were you looking for me? ” 

All three of the young fellows started as though it 
had been Harold’s wraith who had spoken. Thea 
they pounced on the boy in a body, and for a while 
there was such a babel of questions and exclama- 
tions that there was no room for either answers or 
counter queries. 

But at length Harold managed to make them un- 
derstand that not himself but Mr. Stanley Cross was 
the hero of the day, whereupon the whole party right 
about faced and bore Mr. Cross off to the flat to receive 
the thanks of Mrs. Hammersley. 

“ Does she know ? ” asked Harold. 

“Well, we didn’t tell her you were lost,” returned 
Guy. “We only let her suppose that you were 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 


23f 

* mislaid/ But what an audacious scheme of Starr's 
that was ! He counted on your being chicken- 
hearted, Harry, my boy, and that is where he slipped 
up. But what a 'jolly scare,' as Ward would say, 
the whole thing has given us ! When I got to the 
Westmores' at dinner time I found Ridley here fuming 
away, for he’d got it into his head that I must have 
sent for you, and the people at the theater in telling 
about it had got things mixed.” 

"And didn’t you ever think that Mr. Starr — I just 
won’t call him ‘ colonel ’ — had anything to do with 
it ? ” asked Harold. 

" How should we? When I found you weren’t at 
the Westmores', we posted down to the Jura to sec 
Shepard about it, and it was he told us the note that 
took you away was supposed to have come from 
Ridley here. ” 

"And what did you do then ? ” Harold wanted to 
know. 

"Betook ourselves to the Westmore stables at 
quickly as an engine could carry us, only to find out 
that nobody there knew anything about you. Then 
we came over home and were just bound, some of 
us for police headquarters, others to put a note in 
the papers, when we met you. ” 

Before they reached the flat Ridley and Cross dis- 
covered that they knew friends in common, and oa 
opening the door of the cozy little apartment another 
surprise was found to be in waiting. This was Judge 
Dodge, who had come to call on Mrs. Hammersley, 
and whom Ruth was endeavoring to entertain with- 
out letting him know that Harold was missing. 


.240 


GUY HAMMERSLEY. 


**l should have felt so humiliated/' she explained 
afterwards, to have him think that we couldn’t take 
care of the boy after we’d got him.” 

But there was no keeping the thing secret now, 
and a general jollification over the “ lost found” was 
held in those little rooms. Besides, it was all out in 
the papers next morning exactly as Stanley Cross had 
predicted. Indeed, Guy more than suspected that 
that enterprising young gentleman had a hand in 
getting it there, as he was a Columbia Sophomore 
with a predilection for scribbling. And he was heard 
to remark moreover that the publication of the item 
would prove a first class advertisement for the new 
Fauntleroy. 

Well, the first performance was a great success. 
Harold became the talk of the town, the Four Hun- 
dred ‘‘took him up,” and the Hammersleys’ modest 
flat formed the stopping place for many swell turn- 
outs, whose owners were only too rejoiced if the 
“little lord ” would condescend to take a turn in the 
Park with them. And such an avalanche of requests 
for autographs came in that Ward suggested Harold 
should get a typewriter to save him from writer’s 
cramp in supplying them. 

Judge Dodge remained in the city, and twice at- 
tended the theater with Mrs. Hammersley, who soon 
became well enough to take Guy’s place as Harold’s 
dresser. Of course Harold’s salary removed all 
cause of financial worriment from the minds of the 
members of the “assorted family,” and the sight of 
the boy’s glowing face as he placed the envelope 
containing it in his mother’s lap was something long 
to be remembered. 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


241 


Now that Mrs. Hammersley had recovered and no 
longer needed her ministrations, Ruth, through Dr. 
Pendleton's influence, secured three pupils for violin 
instruction, and by the first of February had saved 
up enough money to pay the passage back to Eng- 
land of herself and Ward. They were to sail on 
Washington's Birthday. 

On Valentine's Day Ruth, chatting with Guy at 
the breakfast-table, remarked with a smile: '‘Mrs. 
Westmore called again yesterday afternoon. She 
seems to take it very much to heart that you won't 
come and live with them. She told Mrs. Hammers- 
ley that it was your loyalty to her that kept you here. 
‘Of course I understand, Mrs. Hammersley,' she 
said, ‘just how he feels about it, for now that the 
Farleighs are going away, you would be here all 

alone with the boy.' And " here Ruth stopped, 

colored a little, then went on hesitatingly : “I don't 
know whether I ought to tell you this or not Or 
perhaps you have guessed it yourselt" 

“Guessed what?" exclaimed Guy, his curiosity 
thoroughly aroused. 

“Well, perhaps you know already," returned Ruth, 
toying with the spoon in her coffee cup, “ and in that 
case it would be — would be rather embarrassing for 
me to tell you. Really, now, haven't you any idea 
of what I mean ? " 

“Really, I shall begin to think terrible things of 
somebody unless you tell me plainly what all this 
is about " 

“No, I won't tell it" rejoined Ruth. “I can't 
But I'll tell you something else, from which you can 


242 


GUY HAMMERSLE K 


infer the other. When Mrs. Westmore said that about 
your wanting to stay here to keep your mother com- 
pany, Mrs. Hammersley blushed and changed the 
conversation. Now do you see ? ” 

“ No, I don’t,” returned Guy bluntly ; “and it’s my 
rpinion you’re dodging the point at issue. ” 

“Yes, that’s just it,” burst forth Ruth, with a ner- 
vous little laugh. “It’s Judge Dodge.” 

Then Guy comprehended, and wondered why he 
had been so blind before. 

It was even so. Their common interest in Harold 
had taught Judge Dodge and Mrs. Hammersley to 
have a common interest in one another, and very 
»oon he who had been the boy’s grandfather in name 
became his stepfather in reality. And at the close of 
the New York season Harold was withdrawn from 
the stage, and went to live again in that beautiful 
home in Drilling. The day of the marriage Guy took 
him to the Westmores’ with him, where he remained 
during the wedding trip, and where Guy himself has 
now taken up his permanent residence. 

Early in June he and Ridley drove out to Rye, as 
the latter was extremely anxious to see the place. 
They found that the major was dead, and that his son, 
the owner, had returned to America for a few weeks 
to see if he could not dispose of the property. 

“ Now I’m going to find out how that front door 
came to be locked after you had gone inside,” said 
Ridley, when Guy had pointed out Max to him. 

A few inquiries elicited the information that the 
German had become nervous at the wedding lest he 
tad failed to lock the door behind him, and had come 


GUY HAMMERSLEY, 


243 


back and tried it Finding it open, and the key under 
the mat, where he always placed it, he concluded 
that he had done what he had suspected himself of 
doing, locked the door, and hurried back to the fes- 
tivities. 

Ridley was very enthusiastic about the beauties of 
the place, got his father on bis side, thumped his brain 
till he thought of “View Point " as a new name, and 
then induced his mother and sister to put aside their 
prejudice and come up again and look at it The 
result was a purchase — after Ridley had agreed to take 
the major's rooms for his own, with Guy to share 
them. 

And here our hero spends his summers. His salary 
has already been twice raised at Ken worthy & Clarke's, 
where he and Arlington — who now shares Shepard's 
rooms at the Jura — are held in high regard. Guy 
is obliged to submit to a good deal of teasing from 
Bert on the score of Amy Westmore. His standard 
reply to these thrusts is, “ But we are cousins." 

“ Three times removed though," laughs Bert, 
adding : Three times and out, you know, which in 
your case, my boy, is sure to mean in — the toils of 
matrimony." 

Whereupon Guy always changes the subject, as 
Mrs. Hammersley did before him. 


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